Dancing Dragonflies (Rewrite)
by JayF SB
Summary: Most people have problems with their mothers. My mother is a psycho merc with a giant robot and has DRAGONS for friends. I am Taylor Hebert, and my Mom is a blonde psycho named Ange. (Rewritten)
1. Prologue

The work got derailed badly due to a few bad decisions on my part, so I decided to rework things from the ground up. Let's see if it works better this time round.

Here's a prologue, so people get a feel of the backstory I've reworked for it.

Also, if anyone can inform me if Danny's parents had their canon names, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.  
 **  
Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

Prologue.

/x/

Ange exchanged glares with her six year old daughter, who stared up at her with her arms folded.

"Hey Mom," Taylor said as she glanced behind her back," where's Momoka?"

Ange set down a PDA in front of her daughter, before the screen flickered and an Asian woman with bruise coloured hair, a white maid's headdress and apron appeared on the screen. Taylor's face brightened at the sight as she got closer to the screen.

"Momoka," Taylor said with a smile, before her expression darkened as she looked at her mother. "Did Mom prevent you from coming home?"

"Nothing of the sort, Lady Taylor. I'm just very sick so I cannot be too close to you."

"You've been sick for a year and a half now," Taylor grumbled before she noticed the two redheads standing at the open front door of her home.

The woman wore her hair in a pair of pigtails and was dressed in a white blouse, grey skirt over a red and white sleeveless jacket. The girl, who looked a few years older than her had her hair cut short, barely over her shoulders. The younger redhead tugged at her blue jacket which hung over a grey blouse, before she turned towards the older woman next to her.

"Mama Hilda," she said while pointing at Taylor, "is that girl Mama Ange's daughter?"

"Yes she is, Claudia," Hilda said. "Now go say hello."

Claudia nodded as she walked up to Taylor, who scowled at the news of her surprise sibling.

"Hi, I'm Claudia," she said as she assessed Taylor. "You look scrawny."

Taylor frowned, before she snap kicked Claudia's shin.

"She's got your temper, Ange," Hilda said as she rested her head on Ange's shoulder while they both watched the children descend into a mess of twisting, grappling limbs.

"You should have seen Danny when he loses his, Hilda."

"Danny?" Hilda said with a frown, as she stared into Ange's eyes. "Did you get another lover while here on this world?"

"It's Tusk. He took another name when we-"

A loud scream caused both women to turn back to their kids. Claudia stood a few feet away from Taylor, who was crumpled on the floor with boils emerging on her skin. Ange's face stiffened as she laid her daughter face up and checked her pulse as more boils started to appear.

"It's happening again,"Ange muttered as Taylor's limbs started warping."Need to sort this out quick."

"Hilda," Ange said as she carried her daughter, "screen the entrances and make sure no one enters the compound. Claudia, follow your captain's orders."

Hilda watched as Ange carried the degenerating Taylor down to the basement, before she was jolted by another order.

"Hilda, grab the beam rifle from our transport."

/x/

Ange sat at the kitchen table brooding, her plain ceramic mug filled with coffee untouched as the steam rose to her face. Hilda and Claudia sat silently next to her, both of them kept their hands close to their pistols. Hilda watched her lover stare into the yard, her blonde hair wet with sweat and her ruby eyes focused on something far away. She gently placed a hand on Ange's shoulder and smiled when their gazes met.

"Stop blaming yourself, Ange. Who'd know Embryo would fuck you over like that with his technology?"

"I'm the one who assumed we've unlocked the secrets to Embryo's quantum technology, Hilda," Ange said bitterly. "The blame's all on me."

A ringing shook all three out of their reverie, as the phone on the kitchen wall rang. Claudia dashed over before the adults could react and answered.

"Arz-Hebert Residence," Claudia said. She listened to the caller for a minute before she frowned and yelled into the phone. "Who am I? I'm Claudia!"

"Claudia," Hilda asked suspiciously as her child chatted animatedly, "who's that?"

"Of course I'm Mama Ange's daughter," Claudia said. "No, not Taylor, the other one. With Mama Hilda."

Ange wrenched the phone from her daughter's grasp, while Hilda dragged Claudia aside for a chat about speaking to strangers on the phone.

"Ange."

"Ange," a wizened male voice said excitedly, "since when did you have another kid!"

 _Thomas Hebert_ , Ange thought as she lowered her voice.

"Hi, Tom. Had Claudia for a while now," Ange said. " About a few years after you and Martha did us a solid and agreed to act as Tusk's parents."

"We've been through this a million times now, Ange," Tom sighed, "We _adopted_ Danny, gave him a new name."

Ange smiled. It wasn't everyday people are willing to adopt a nineteen year old and pretend he's a long lost relative to the authorities.

"Don't think you've called just to chat about old times, Tom. What's the matter."

"Martha's condition is getting worse. She barely remembers what happened three hours ago," Tom said, "though she still remembers walking into you and Danny getting frisky."

Ange tried to fight the flush on her cheeks as her father-in-law continued.

"We lost our only son two years ago. We'd like to see our daughter and grandchildren while Martha still has her senses with her."

"Grandchildren?"

"Yes, including the one you've adopted with your girlfriend," Tom said," though we'd appreciate it if you told us you were attached again."

"Sure, Tom," Ange said as she looked at the stairs leading to Taylor's room. "Taylor's condition is...slightly better now. We should be able to travel upstate."

"I see,"Tom said after a pause. "Ange, look-"

"I'll fix it Tom," Ange said. "I owe it to you, Martha and Tusk to fix the problems I've created."

"Ange, look-"

"See ya Saturday afternoon then, Tom."

Ange put down the phone, stared at the backyard before she opened a kitchen cabinet and pulled out a disassembled carbine.

"Hilda," Ange said, "I'm going hunt down the remains of Marquis' crew now that he got Birdcaged for stress relief and some extra cash. Wanna come along?"

"Sure," Hilda said with a grin." Wanna have me bust out Theodora?"

Ange paused, before she shook her head.

"Nah, Jasmine and Mei will have my ass if I authorize the use of a Ragnamail just to hunt down several parahumans in an alien dimension."

Ange slung the carbine over her neck, and the two Norma walked out to the living room before Claudia stood at the doorway, her pistol in hand.

"I wanna come along too!"

"No you're not, Claudia," Ange said with a glare. "You're staying here to hold down the fort and watch over your sister."

Claudia pouted, but saluted and trudged up the stairs while the older women watched.

"C'mon Hilda, I've got some Cryo-grenades I'm itching to test out."

/x/

Taylor dreamt.

Of happier days when her family was whole and Momoka was a part of the household rather than a presence only contactable by phone and other means. Then the world started to shake, as a familiar voice called for her.

"Taylor," she felt her body shake as her eyes cracked open slowly," wake up."

Taylor reached for her eyes before she felt the clear plastic screen of her bio-hazard suit block her hands. She looked around, her eyes widened as she saw the clear blue sky that surrounded the hoverbike she was currently riding shotgun on. A flight of pink dragons, each about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide, flew next to her ride in formation. Their screeching roar echoed with the roar of the wind, before she turned back to glare at her mother.

"So, did I pass out or did you tranq me again?"

"You're awfully curious for an eleven year old, Tay," Ange yelled over the intercom, which caused her to wince from the mic's feedback. "But yeah, I tranqed you."

"I can put on a hazmat suit myself, Mom," Taylor muttered as she strengthened her grip as she felt the hoverbike descend.

"Not this one you don't," Ange said with a chuckle, "because I never taught you how."

"Nope, but Aunt Hilda did," Taylor said. "Are we gonna see Dad?"

"Patience, Tay," Ange said as the clouds gave way to show a city that's a mix of ancient Asian and modernist architecture. I'm just as eager to get your father back as you are."

"So, if Dad comes back does that mean you're gonna stop tranqing me? How about the booby traps and survival training?"

"Nope," Ange said flatly as the hoverbike landed on a courtyard surrounded by women in colourful Asian robes and red, bat-like wings. In the distance, larger draconic shapes loomed, their multicoloured scales, rows of teeth and eyes and wingspan the size of an aircraft hangar formed an imposing figure.

"You want to avoid getting either," Ange said, "you learn to spot the traps and see me coming with a tranq gun."

A redhead with a mole on her chin approached, dressed in a white doctor's coat. A blonde girl about six years old accompanied her, also dressed in a white coat. Ange helped Taylor off the bike before one of the winged women approached the hoverbike and disrobed.

"Wha-Hey, keep your clothes on-"

Taylor's words ended abruptly as the naked women crouched on the floor, before her wings expanded and pink scales covered her. Her body expanded and twisted, the sound of torn flesh and cracked bones caused Taylor's face to turn green. The pink dragon screeched, before it flapped its wings and grabbed the hoverbike by the talon as it took off.

"I'm gonna be sick,"Taylor said. "That's probably the most disturbing thing I've seen, and Mom made me watch army first aid videos where they showed you blast victims."

The blonde girls face brightened at Taylors words, as she approached with a bottle of pills in her hand.

"Really? I've got something for everything! Nausea, morning sickness, flu..."

"Riley,stop," the older woman in the coat said while resting a hand on her shoulder. Riley blinked at the instruction, before she took a deep breath and slipped the bottle into her coat.

"Sorry, bad habit," Riley said. She approached Taylor again and held out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Riley and this," she pointed to the redhead, "is Dr Maggie. We're the ones who will be handling your condition today."

"Condition?"

"Yes. You've had blackouts where you don't remember anything for close to five years, correct?"

"Yeah," Taylor said as she looked at her mother," I did."

"Great," Riley said with a bright smile. "Commander Ange brought us a lot of invaluable data in the course of finding a cure for your condition. Along with Lady Aura's own research, we can finally cure you."

"That's...wonderful news. Thanks!" Taylor hugged Riley before she spun around to face her mother.

"So _Commander_ , this is your homeworld?"

"Earth Aura's my adopted homeworld. My birthplace is...a mess right now."

Taylor's eyes narrowed.

"You caused it, didn't you?"

Ange pushed her daughter towards the waiting doctors, as she made shooing motions.

"After this, you're going home to Bet until your radiation resistance has matured," Ange said. "On the bright side, Momoka will be able to join you again."

Ange turned to leave, before Taylor's shout halted her.

"How long are you gonna be gone this time round?"

Ange hesitated, before she answered haltingly.

"Not for very long, this time round. Momoka will debrief you on the details."

" _Debrief?_ Mom just listen to yourself!"

A helicopter descended from the clouds and landed on the courtyard, as two women wearing olive green armoured vests and matching fatigues came out of the copter bearing rifles.

"I know what I'm doing, Taylor," Ange snapped before she bit her lip. "Listen to Maggie and Riley's instructions. Rest well."

Ange ignored the rest of her daughter's angry shouting as she boarded the helicopter.

/x/

Claudia stared at her sister's puffy eyes when she opened the door, while her two girlfriends Trish and Millia looked at each other awkwardly.

"Hi Claudia," Taylor sniffed, "here to spent the fall again?"

"Yeah," Claudia said as she studied her sister's face, "what the fuck happened?"

"Mom didn't tell you? I just got bailed out of jail after I caved Emma's nose in."

"You what?" Claudia sputtered, "but you and her are thick as thieves. I honestly thought you and Emma were going to hook up one day."

"Even if we were, that's not happening now," Taylor said bitterly. "Not after what she said about Mom."

"Oh,really," Claudia said with murder in her eyes, "what'd she say?"

"Nothing I'm telling you, Claudia. Not letting you turn this assault into murder."

"Nobody will ever find the body,Sis. Let me at her."

"For the last time, no! Look," Taylor said with a sigh, "let's drop this and blow of some steam."

Claudia arched an eyebrow.

"What're you suggesting?"

"I've got some rubber bullets, body armour and some carbines."


	2. Arc 11BB

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

 **Arc 1.1  
/x/  
**  
Emma gingerly touched the bridge of her nose, trying not to think of the process involved that got her it looking normal again. Thanks to a mix of silicone, some Tinkertech skin grafting tech, the money from her parent's insurance and the payout from the Heberts, her nose is now good as new.

 _Okay, Emma. Don't think about Ange. Don't think-crap!_

Emma winced as the scowling visage of Ange flooded her mind and filled her with a sense of dread.

 _I really thought that crazy bitch was going to kill me_ , Emma thought as she recalled the meeting last week at the police station between her parents and the Hebert matriarch. Her mother Zoe had hugged her close while glaring daggers at Ange, but Emma felt her mother's fear through the sweaty palms and way she backed away subtly from the Heberts. Ange for her part was very cordial, except for the way she tore into Taylor. The sudden switch between stormy fury for Taylor and sunshine with smiles when she addressed her family again was unnerving.

"Hi Emma, so, so, sorry about all this unpleasantness," Ange said as she bent down to meet her face to face. Her mom scowled and told Ange to stay away, but was silenced when Ange gave her a glance. Emma kept a stiff upper lip throughout the ordeal, when Ange smiled at her with that kind of smile that doesn't go up to the eyes.

"Alan and Danny's friendship goes a long way back, so please try to put this behind you?"

Emma fought to prevent herself from showing fear when Ange patted her shoulder. She likes to think she succeeded.

"Hey, Ems!"

Emma glared at Madison and Julia, especially the latter for freaking her out by suddenly calling her name.

"Yes," Emma said frostily,"something you need?"

Both girls looked at each other, before Julia spoke out.

"We're thinking of heading down to Fugly's. Wanna come along?"

Emma gave a look of disgust as she reached for her gut. How can anyone stuff so much grease into herself so often?

"No thanks, I'm not aiming to become a plus sized model," Emma said while Madison snickered. Emma grabbed her bag and left her seat, as she walked in front of the other two girls.

"C'mon girls, we can head down to the Boardwalk first then we can go our own ways once we're at Fugly's."

 _Poking Taylor was a mistake_ ; Emma thought when they walked past the main entrance's metal detector. She reached for her nose again as she remembered the shock when her bestie lashed out in front of the entire school.

 _Well, former bestie now,_ Emma thought while the trio passed the outer fences of Winslow. _Pity Sophia's decided to play truant today._

"Hey, Ems."

"Hmm? Yes, Madison?"

Madison reached for her nose.

"You're doing it again. You know, the whole touching your busted nose and brooding thing. Stop that, it's creepy."

"Yeah," Emma said as she lowered her hand," you're right. Thanks."

"No probs," Madison said brightly. "Speaking of that whacko, you've heard what she did to Rudolf?"

"That Empire senior? I've heard about him," Julia cut in, "what about him."

Madison shot an irritated look at Julia, but continued her gossip.

"I heard Hebert and some of her friends went to town on Rudolf and some of his fellow skinheads," Madison said while looking at Emma. "One of them was a redhead."

"Hey," Emma said. "No way in hell would I poke the Empire like that."

"Nah, no one thought it's you Ems," Madison said with a laugh. "The Empire got jumped by a group of girls armed with guns firing rubber rounds, who then proceeded to beat the shit out of them with their rifle butts."

"That's oddly specific, "Julia, said," how the hell did you know."

Madison grinned, as they walked past the pedestrian crossing and turned into a quiet neighborhood lined with apartment blocks.

"They were asking around to see if anyone knows anything, since the girls who attacked them wore body armour with masked helmets except one who only wore a mask. From what Ems told me, the Heberts got a crazy survivalist mother with a house like an arsenal."

Julia paused for a moment, before she put the pieces together.

"You evil bitch," Julia said with a giggle. "You sicced the Empire on Hebert!"

"Yeah," Madison said," Rudolf isn't quite so stupid to believe Ems would attack the Empire out of nowhere like that, but someone with an attitude like Hebert? Now that's a prime candidate."

"Someone might die, y'know," Emma said as she scrolled through her smartphone.

"What, you worried about Hebert now," Madison asked. "Bitch broke your nose and sent you to hospital."

"I'm more worried what happens if either the Empire or Taylor finds out you set them up," Emma said as she turned away from her screen, "Both sides are capable of fucking your shit up."

Emma's gaze met the spot where her two friends were, and saw only the walls of the nearby apartments.

"Madison? Julia? Where are you?"

A boot crunched against the floor, which caused Emma to spin around to face the source of the noise.

"You really shouldn't be worried about your little snitch friend, Emma," a young woman about eighteen walked towards her slowly, her dark blue body armour blended well with the grey bricks of the nearby blocks.

"You see," the woman removed her dark grey helmet, which allowed her fiery hair to flow freely. "There's always _me_ to really be worried about."

"Name's Claudia," Emma felt her heart skip a bit when she saw the ruby eyes- _Ange's_ eyes-glare at her with a mix of contempt and pity. "You do not know me, but I know all about you."

Emma turned to run, before she was shoulder checked onto the floor. She looked up and saw a brunette with a sharp face and a round faced woman with teal hair, dressed in the same armour as the redhead. On the corner of her vision, Emma saw her two friends slumped against a wall with bruises on their faces, before she screamed when she felt herself being lifted by her hair. A tap to the chest choked her scream as she began to cough before she was backhanded onto the floor again.

"Pitiful really," Claudia said as she loomed over her. "One incident involving a few thugs in an alleyway, and you turned on your friend who shielded you for most of your life."

A thumb-drive clattered as Claudia tossed it in front of Emma.

"Yeah, I know about it," Claudia sneered. "You think I don't do my research? Breaking into the local PD's databases are like child's play if you know who to hire."

Emma sat up and gave a defiant glare to the older woman.

"Thugs? You mean like what you're doing now?"

Claudia frowned, as she leaned forwards.

"What's that, Emma? I thought I heard something crazy stupid from you."

The sound of cracked bones rang across the quiet street, as Emma's fist found Claudia's chin. Emma hissed in pain before she let out a cry while she stumbled to her feet, the fingers on her right hand bloodied and bruised. Trish and Millia approached, batons drawn before Claudia stopped them with a raised hand.

"Like I said, Claudia. You're a thug, just like Taylor and that crazy bitch of a mother she has."

Claudia's eyes narrowed while she rubbed her jaw.

"Okay, you're still a stupid, backstabbing cunt. But you're one with balls."

Claudia closed in and dodged a wild swing from Emma's left arm before delivering a jab to her stomach. As Emma doubled over, the older woman grabbed Emma's left arm and twisted it at the elbow. Emma hissed in pain and tried to head-butt Claudia, before a quick chop from the older woman's free hand knocked her back. Claudia let go of Emma's now limping arm, before she swept the younger girl off her feet with a simple kick to the back of the knee.

"So," Claudia whispered as she squatted next to the heavily panting Emma. "I'll give you a chance since you've shown me you're not completely worthless."

Emma stared at the smirking Claudia.

"Say "I'm sorry, I'm worthless and will get the fuck out of the city" and then do so,"

Emma muttered something under her breath.

"What," Claudia said as she got closer to the prone redhead," I can't hear you."

"Fuck you. Fuck Ange. Fuck Taylor and her sociopathic, socially inept ass and fuck your bulldyke friends," Emma spat out with as much venom as she can muster. "She's a goddam guard dog who wasn't around when I needed her! Fuck Taylor, and fuck you!"

Claudia barked out a laugh, before she kicked Emma in the shoulder. While Emma's eyes rolled over, the older woman pulled out a pistol.

"Guess I'll just finish you and dump you in the bay like I did that skin-"

"So that's why I couldn't find that Rudolf boy anywhere."

Claudia felt her world shake when she was suddenly struck in the side of her head while a hand wrenched away her gun. She found herself flying towards a wall, as Ange slammed her into a wall with an overhead throw. Ange growled as she lifted her daughter off her feet and smacked her face twice, before pinning her against the wall again.

"You little _shit_! Who the fuck told you to bring our war on the Mana world into Bet!"

Ange pointed a shaky finger at Emma's prone form.

"Does that look like one of those fucking junkies who'd put our babies into a box?! Does she look like one of those shitheels who'd genocide our entire Norma race if given a chance?!"

"She hurt Taylor!"

Ange growled.

"And you're not?! She already has me unable to leave the war- both of them- behind when I'm here. She doesn't need you doing it too!"

Claudia's mouth opened to protest, before she chose silence and looked away. Ange took a deep breath, before she unhanded her daughter and stepped away.

"Trish, Millia. Restrain her."

Both Norma looked at each other hesitantly.

" _Now_ ," Ange snapped before the two scrambled to secure Claudia.

"The three of you will report to Captain Salia for punishment," Ange raised her hand to forestall any protests from the three. "I've requested her presence back on Arzenal and she's agreed to depart from Mykonos Settlement on Earth Mana to oversee your summary trial."

Ange's gaze swept over the three Norma.

"Any questions?"

Both Norma raised their hands in salute, while Claudia remained unmoving with her head bowed.

"No Ma'am!"

"Good. Trish, you know how to drive," Ange threw her a bunch of keys." There's a van at the end of the street. Use it to bring Claudia to Point Charlie and depart back to Earth Aura."

Ange watched the younger Norma depart, before she hunched over Emma and the other Bet girls to check on their injuries. Her ears perked up as the sound of damp footsteps got louder, before Taylor emerged from an alley wearing a tracksuit and sandals, holding a plastic bag with a damp wetsuit inside. Taylor's eyes blinked off the water running down her eyes as she stared at the battered form of her former best friend, before she dropped the bag and knelt down next to Emma.

"How's the skinhead."

"Claudia didn't have the nerve to shoot him, Mom," Taylor said as she examined Emma's busted right hand. "Though she did dump him in the bay. Fishing him out was difficult, even with Momoka's help."

Ange nodded before she stood up and called an ambulance with an ancient, cheap looking phone.

"Yes, I'd like to report two injured teenage girls. They're both unconscious and have some superficial wounds."

"Mom," Taylor said as Ange ended her call and stomped the phone into pieces," you only said two."

"We'll bring Emma back to the house," Ange said as she carried Emma over her shoulder," Momoka will be able to patch her up with the Light of Mana."

"Why?"

Ange stopped walking and stared at her daughter.

"You saw the info that Claudia stole from the cops, right?"

"Yeah?"

Ange sighed and kept walking to a waiting car.

"Betrayal is a knife that cuts deep, Taylor. Take it from your old lady who's been through it. But even worse are the calluses and the scars that forms afterwards, not allowing you to heal properly."

Mother and daughter got into the car, as Emma was gently set onto the back seat.

"She's betrayed you once so far," Ange said. "While I appreciate never giving them a second chance, sometimes a form of forgiveness or at least resolution has it's beauty."

 _Like how I sometimes wish I can forgive you. Julio. Sylvia. Akiho_. _Misty_ , Ange thought.

Taylor frowned and reached for her sidearm as she stared at her mother.

"Who're you? And what did you do to Ange Missouri Hebert?"

Ange chuckled as the car engine roared to life.

"I'm still me, Tay. Just that sometimes, the old Angelise I thought was dead and buried after I first arrived on Arzenal tries to dig out of her grave."

/x/

Emma woke to the smell of soup and a warm spoon filled with broth touching her dry lips, before she eagerly sucked up the liquid as her body demanded more.

"Go easy, Lady Emma. Mana restructuring of the body takes a lot out of you," a gentle voice said. "Sip slowly."

 _Lady Emma? There's only one person I know who'd address me that way._

Emma's eyes slowly peeled open, before she stared into a round face with bruise coloured hair.

"Momoka," Emma rasped, "guess I'm in someplace I'm not welcome at, huh."

"Nonsense," Momoka said while she continued to feed the injured teen," no one here is making you feel unwelcome."

"Though sometimes, " Taylor said as she entered the edge of Emma's vision, "you wear out your welcome when you rant in public about my Mom's secrets that might get her thrown in jail or call me a guard dog."

 _There must be brandy in the soup_ , Emma thought. _My cheeks are burning_.

Momoka stepped aside, as Taylor took her seat next to the bed. Emma looked around Taylor's room while trying to avoid looking at her former friend who stared at her.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Taylor said, "for the whole breaking your nose thing."

"You say this," Emma said icily, "after you sic your dog on me?"

"Claudia's my sister, she did it on her own accord and Mom's sent her home for punishment."

Emma felt the gears in her brain grind to a halt at the new revelation.

"Wait, sis-then the eyes...how?"

"Don't think too hard about it, Emma," Taylor said as she laid the redhead back onto the bed. She then fished out a length of silicone from her pocket and held if before Emma's face.

"Looks familiar? Momoka fixed your nose while we were patching you up. Though you may have problems with conventional mobile phones for a few hours, thanks to the Light of Mana."

"Huh," Emma said as she received the implants,"thanks I guess. The light thingy, it's that Blaster/Breaker trick Momoka does right?"

"Close enough," Taylor said. "Though I'm surprised you didn't spill that secret out when you were telling the whole world Mom's secrets."

Emma looked towards the wall.

"I was just preserving my ammo, you know. Leave some more secrets I can use against you."

"Liar," Taylor said. "Whenever you try lying to me, you always look away."

Emma's head snapped back to her friend.

"Bullshit! That's a load of crap and you know it!"

Taylor chuckled as Momoka gently closed the door on her way out.

"I don't need you anymore, Taylor. I've found someone stronger now. Someone to aspire to."

"Emma," Taylor grabbed her hand, " you _are_ strong despite what happened that night. You've proven it."

"Like hell I did," Emma hissed, " your sister used me as a punching bag and the way I was helpless when the ABB cornered me proved it!"

"Claudia gives me problems when she goes all out, Emma," Taylor said. "I've seen the way you held your ground when Mom tried to intimidate you. I'd have pissed myself If I was you."

"That just proves how weak you are!"

"Emma," Taylor waved her hand, as if to literally brush aside the insult. "You're not weak. I'm not your guard dog or whatever. You're my goddam _anchor_ when I leave the house."

Taylor squeezed her friend in a hug.

"Sorry I wasn't there for you, Ems."

Emma rubbed her eyes.

"Where were you?"

"Arzenal, getting to know the people there. The radiation suit was very uncomfortable."

Emma blinked through her tears, as she glared at her friend.

"You wore a hazmat suit while visiting an English soccer club?"

"Arzenal, with a z. Look," Taylor said, "one day when I get Mom's permission, I'll tell you more."

Emma was about to speak, when police sirens pierced the quiet and searchlights flooded in through the drapes. Both teens heard Ange shouting challenges to the police and paled.

"I think I heard my mom," Emma said as she looked at mirror on the bedside. Satisfied that there were no visible signs of trauma, she turned to her newly recovered friend.

"C'mon Tay. Let's go meet the cops before your mom starts a gun battle with the police." 


	3. Arc 12BB

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

 **Arc 1.2**

 **/x/**

Captain Maloney of the Brockton PD believed himself a good cop, for her was diligent in his duties, helpful to the needy, incorruptible and yet understanding when to let some honest mistake slide and when to bring in someone for a lesson in obeying the law. He wiped the sweat on his brow, while he eyed that house with arms drawn and hidden behind the relative safety of the cruisers' engine block. Next to him, other fine police officers of the BPD were similarly nervous as their chief continued to broadcast the message for the inhabitants to come out with their hands up. Not that anyone present believes that the person living inside that house will come out quietly.

36 Lord Street, that's what the people in the precinct called the place officially. No one on the force wanted to be called to be near the place. Most police would rather attend the scene of a cape fight than be assigned to deal with any kind of trouble from there. The unofficial term for the house, which is also the more widely used one was rather more catchy.

Nam.

The term was coined after some of Marquis' men some nine years ago heard of the weapons held here and decided to test their luck. They had several vets from Vietnam, and those that survived told the interviewers they were reminded of street fighting back in South Vietnam. When Charlie poked his head into the urban jungle, ready for a rumble.

Maloney wasn't sure who the owner of the place bribed, but she had enough pull and influence that she's got every gun that a civilian could legally own in the property and the needed permits for those they're not.

"What do you mean there's no SWAT on the way," Maloney heard the voice of Alan Barnes bellow at the chief, " _Ange_ is inside the place, holed up with enough guns and ammo to start one of the African bush wars here in America!"

"Mr Barnes," Chief Heer said in a strained voice, "so far, we have no solid proof to believe that your daughter is inside her friend's home, or even if she is that she's held against her will. But due to her status as a minor, we decided to investigate in force. We are not here to arrest anyone if we can help it."

 _Or get into a shootout with anyone, especially her_ , thought Maloney. _Chief, do you really think anyone's buying that baloney?_

Zoe Barnes glared at the chief's explanation, as she swept her hands over the gathered armed police huddled behind their cars.

"Well, what's with all this then, deploying eight squad cars with police armed to the teeth," Zoe said.

"Just some basic manners when we visit _this_ house, Mrs Barnes. We-"

The lights on the front porch lit up, and the police scrambled behind their vehicles.

"Hold your fire," Maloney shouted as he noticed several of his fellows slide their trigger fingers into the guard.

The screen door creaked open slowly, which prompted several younger police to tighten their grips on their weapons but caused the eyebrows of the older, more seasoned officers. A teenage redhead, her lithe frame accentuated by the brown wool jacket and white jeans slowly came into the waiting lights of the police cruisers. Several officers held back Mrs Barnes from rushing forward when the teen went down the stairs of the porch.

"Emma!"

Maloney nodded as he checked the provided photos to confirm the ID of the girl, when another teenage girl stepped into the frame. Dressed in a plain, grey jacket and blue jeans the blonde was scruffy looking even if she walked like a tiger on the prowl. _This_ particular teen needed no introduction for most members of the BPD gathered here, for Taylor Hebert had entered their Winslow Hall of Fame. To qualify, you had to do something particularly noteworthy or unusual.

Like breaking someone's nose on the first day of school before assembly, in front of the mall cop hired for the occasion. Most of the gangster or wannabes in Winslow may flaunt their colours openly, but they're usually a bit more subtle about the violence.

Maloney watched as the two teens smiled at each other before walking towards them hand-in-hand. Immediately, the posture of the gathered police relaxed especially since Ange Hebert had gone quiet and even turned on most of the lights in the house.

Chief Heer and the Barnes parents immediately went forward to the teenagers, who waved at each other before Emma was crushed in a hug by her mother.

"It's fine, Mom. Tay and I had a misunderstanding and a fight, but we went to her place and sorted things out."

Emma then looked at the gathered members of Brockton's finest, waving at them before turning to Chief Heer.

"Sorry, officer. I guess my parents overreacted."

"We didn't overreact," Zoe said coldly while she exchanged the stink-eye with Taylor. "Someone called the ambulance when they found Madison and Julia, beaten up and filled with tranquilizers."

"Is that what happened?" Emma said with a concerned look. "We went our separate ways after we left school since they wanted to go to Fugly Bob's and I kinda hit my calorie and fat count for the week already."

"Is it so, Emma?" Zoe cast another dirty look at Taylor, "if anybody is-"

"No one's threatening me, Mom!"

Emma raised the sleeves of her jacket and shirt, to reveal flawless skin before she pulled down her collar to show her similarly unblemished neck.

"Like I said, nothing serious happened," Emma said. "Can we go home now?"

"Sure thing Emma," Alan cut in before his wife could react. He waved at Taylor with a tired smile as he hustled Emma to his car's back seat.

"Say hi to Ange for me okay, Taylor?" Alan shouted before he stuck his head back into the car and drove off. The rest of the police had already started reporting into their radios as the drama unwound, while the rest of the police had turned off their flashing lights as they entered their vehicles. Taylor turned to enter the house, before she paused when she heard someone yelling her name.

"You're...Maloney? The guy who interviewed me back at the station," Taylor said as the wizened officer approached her.

"Twenty years specializing in juvenile cases, never regretted it," Maloney said with a wry smile. His smile faded as he looked at her and the house before he spoke again.

"So, Taylor. Remember I told you that if you need anything I'll be there with a listening ear and phone numbers?"

Taylor rolled her eyes and folded her arms as she glared at the veteran lawman.

"Lawyer."

 _Same word she used at the interview,_ Maloney thought as he backed away.

"Look, I know your mother isn't hard up or anything. As a matter of fact, she's rather loaded," Maloney said. "But you're pretty much alone most of the time-"

"I'm fine, Captain. Thank you," Taylor said before she broke into a small smile. "I appreciate the sentiment however, plus I've gotten back a friend again."

"That you do," Maloney said as he recalled the friendship on display between her and the Barnes girl. He watched as Taylor disappeared into the house and shrugged before he returned to the cruiser to join the rest of the departing BPD.

Several houses away, a figure in a black cowl and black opera mask put down her binoculars in disbelief. From her perch on the rooftop, she checked the equipment to make sure everything was working fine, before she looked at the Hebert house again. Shadow Stalker contemplated going closer to the Hebert home for a closer look, before deciding she can get the information from Emma later. Her body turned into a cloud as she descended from the roof silently and landed on the sidewalk, while her head shook in disbelief.

"What the fuck just happened?"

/x/

Brad Meadows looked with disdain at the plump man in front of him, as he flipped the pages of the information provided to him in a stack of papers. His shoulder length blonde hair fluttered in the wind of several fans going at full blast, while he scratched his semi exposed chest over the vest he was wearing.

"So, Johann. Explain to me why did you bother me with a simple case of several of our younger members getting attacked? Considering the lack of cape involvement or even the chinks and druggies, this really ought to be resolved at your level."

Johann wiped the sweat off his ruddy cheeks and freshly shaved scalp, while he wilted under the gaze of the senior Empire cape.

"Sir, we've spoken to Rudolf as he was recovering again from the attack. This time round, he was jumped on his way to one of our chapter meetings and then dumped in the sea."

Brad's grey eyes changed from bored to interested.

"Again? Someone attacked your subordinate twice?"

"Yes sir," Johann nodded, "first they attacked Rudolf and ten of his recruits at an initiation ceremony, then three weeks after that he was jumped again. This time, there's only one attacker and she struck when Rudolf was with only a handful of his group."

" _She_? A handful of his group?"

Brad scowled at the news.

"Any firearms? Was she a cape?"

Brad growled as Johann shook his head nervously, before he stomped over and loomed over the rotund man.

"Disgraceful, the way your boys had conducted themselves," Brad sneered, "I will arrange for someone to stiffen your forces, toughen them up."

Brad turned his back to Johann before waving him away.

"Now _go_ , before I decide to punish you for letting the rot set in."

As Johann scrambled towards the exit, the door opened and a man in a tiger's mask stepped in. Johann immediately quailed and shuffled to the side, as he took great care to not stand in the shadow of the cape before he left the room. The noise of dogs howling and snarling quietened as the door closed and Stormtiger walked up to the senior Empire cape.

"Brad," Stormtiger said while he adjusted his mask," I've reviewed the reports on the attack on Rudolf and his group."

"Good," Brad nodded. "Was there anything else you know that the fat fuck didn't tell me?"

"The wounds inflicted on the boy, Rudolf. From the medical report and the boy's own testimony, the woman who attacked him the second time knew what she was doing. Trained, not just experience you'd get from brawling."

Brad read the report file Stormtiger handed him, scanned its contents before handing it back to his junior partner.

"She injected something into Rudolf before he was dumped into the bay, and that really messed up his memories. So now we're not sure what it was he was supposed to report to Johann before he was ambushed."

Brad waved his hand, before he removed a metal wolf's mask from his drawers.

"There's only three groups of people in Brockton with the inclination to train and equip people the way Rudolf's assailants did, and two of them aren't the type to get involved with teenagers like this," Hookwolf said as he put on his mask.

"So that only leaves-"

"Tusked Angel," Hookfwolf said. "Though I'm surprised she's active in Brockton Bay after finishing off Marquis' men eight years ago."

Both parahumans strode out of the office, unaffected by the noise of the dog fighting pits.

"Come Stormtiger, Kaiser will want to arrange a meeting with an angel over this."

/x/

 _Well, school's certainly eventful today,_ Taylor thought as her gaze swept over the milling crowds around her table. Emma sat opposite her, talking away about some inane matter that Taylor vaguely recalled having heard about in passing. Emma's usual clique hovered in the background, unsure of what to do with the new reality that confronted the pecking order.

"Tay, you paying attention? Like I said, you can be so much _hotter_ ," Emma gushed while she held a mirror against her friend's face. "I mean, you're actually quite a looker, what with the the dirty blonde hair, that fabulous face structure and the budding curves you've got from your mom. _Almost_ as good as me even."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ems," Taylor rolled her eyes. "Anything else I'm second best at?"

"Oh Tay, there's always-"

Taylor shushed Emma with a wave as she suddenly turned around and sprang out of her seat. Emma's gaze followed her friend's own, her face bursting into a smile when she saw a slender black girl with a toned physique who exchanged glares with Taylor.

"Soph," Emma said brightly as she grabbed the black girls hand and brought her to the table, "glad you can join us."

"I remember you, "Taylor glared at the third party," you're the girl who jumped me along with the mall cop when I-"

"Punched Emma's face in, I know," Sophia said while she glowered at Taylor. A crowd gathered around the two, before Emma interjected the two posturing girls.

"Soph? Tay? Seriously, cut it out. This isn't a rap video and you two aren't thugs with some beef with each other." Emma grabbed both girls by their hands and dragged them to the table. Sophia stared at Emma, but Taylor's glare kept Sophia from lashing out as the black girl focused on the bigger threat instead.

"Look, Soph. Taylor's been my friend since childhood, since our families know each other all the way back from our father's time." Emma raised a hand to forestall Sophia's imminent protest, while she relied on Taylor's presence to bolster her courage. "Soph, I treasure you not just for what you've done, but also for showing me things and views I didn't think of before."

Emma grabbed both their hands, bringing them together.

"But Taylor's also precious to me. Look," Emma hesitated as she looked at both girls, "why not we meet somewhere after school. The three of us can get to know each other better."

"I'm game," Sophia snorted," it'd be a good chance to show Blondie here her place."

"I'm-" A buzz alerted Taylor as she fished out her phone and frowned as she saw the text message. "Not going to make it. Mom wants my presence at a meeting with some associates."

"Ooh look at the big bad scary tough girl hiding behind her mommy's skirt," Sophia sneered.

Taylor blinked at Sophia, before she barked out a laugh.

"Sophia, you won't last a week if you were working with Mom. And she doesn't wear a skirt without having lined it with several Uzi's and grenades."

Taylor downed the last of her juice carton, before she took her tray and left the table. Emma bid a hasty farewell to Sophia before she followed behind.

"Tay," Emma whispered as she caught up in a quiet hallway, "what associates?"

"Can't tell you here, but we're meeting them this evening at the Coachman's Inn."

Emma's eyes shot up in alarm before she started scanning the area for any eavesdroppers.

"Coachman's Inn? But that's Empire turf!"

 _I know_ , Sophia thought as she slipped away from the whispering pair.

/x/

Ange glanced at her daughter, clad in olive green fatigues, grey body armour and a helmet with a green visor that covered half her face. Ange's white version of the outfit made her stand out in comparison to the drably dressed Taylor, an arrangement she approved of.

 _After all, this means I'm the one who's going to attract the attention and the bullets if things go south,_ Ange thought. Taylor's eyes scanned the Brockton skyline as their hoverbike skimmed just below the crimson cloud cover, using the passing clouds and the twilight as camouflage.

"So Mom," Taylor said even while she kept her eyes focused on threats from the ground, "does this mean I'm officially in the business now? Can I see Dad soon again?"

"Not yet," Ange said while Taylor visibly deflated, "the eggheads three of Aura, Maggie and Riley said your Dad should be back in the land of the living sometime after you are ready to face dragonium without the radiation killing you."

"So, a week after my fifteenth birthday," Taylor said as she inspected her assault rifles energy cell. "Why are we busting out the beam weaponry anyway?"

"Reasons named Kaiser, Hookwolf and some of the other nastier, tougher capes," Ange said. "Slug-based weapons might lack the stopping power since they're aware we're coming."

"Stopping power? I thought this was a prospecting meeting with the E88 for our services, Mom," Taylor said while she snapped the dust cover shut. "Any reason we're going in hot?"

"Kaiser's not known for using mercs," Ange said darkly, "and the E88's well, Nazis. We're Norma."

"Supremacists of any stripes tick you off, huh?" Taylor nodded in understanding as the hoverbike lowered from the clouds and approached a helipad that had it's lights blinking. Both Norma did a final check of their weapons before the bike slowed and hovered above the pad, before Ange made sure the auto-cannons swept all the gathered E88 once as the bike circled and landed with a hiss. A long faced man with bleached blonde hair, a black breastplate over a blood red shirt at the head of a group of skinheads waved welcome at the mercenary duo as they disembarked, guns slung over their shoulder and fingers out of the trigger guard. Passengers alighted, the hoverbike took off into the distance.

"Angel of Tusked Angel. A pleasure to finally meet you," the man said as he bowed and held out his hand, palm facing up. Ange's eyes quirked beneath her visor at the gesture before she gave a small smile.

" _I'm_ supposed to initiate, Victor," Ange said icily through her smile,"perhaps the lady with the hair over her eye-patch can demonstrate?"

"I'm Othala, Angel," the woman with the eye-patch said as she walked in front of Victor and shook Ange's hand. "A pleasure to meet you at last."

"Feeling's mutual, I'm sure," Ange said flatly. Othala didn't miss a beat as she walked over to Taylor who stood casually behind her mother, hands resting on her rifle. The lights on the rooftop reflected off the cape's red bodysuit when Othala cocked her head and smiled at Taylor.

"And this must be Angel's little princess, if I guessed correctly based on the family resemblance and your company's history as a family business."

Ange's smile fell a bit, while Victor's smirk grew triumphant at the older merc's reaction.

"Merely a lucky guess that I told my fiancee, Angel and Tusk was a lucky man to have you as his wife," Victor said while the smugness seemingly radiated off him. "We at the Empire are always gladdened when our potential associates are family centric, for it displays a right alignment of values."

"Yes, I suppose having an older man marry a woman barely out of her teens are a wonderful display of family values."

Victor beamed, as Ange resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Indeed! If only more maternal figures would display such wisdom, our race and culture would not be under siege from all corners from enemies within and without," Victor said as he led the mercs down the elevator. "To think Krieg was telling me that sellswords like yourself would never display the proper aptitude to join the cause."

 _Cursed are the souls untouched by the Light of Mana!_

Ange recalled as Victor's recruitment spiel triggered her memories of her tutor touting the party line in her youth. Ange kept her face carefully neutral even as her blood boiled when the memories of her suffering at the hands of the Manaists resurfaced.

"We treasure our independence, Victor," Ange said bluntly. Victor nodded in a show of understanding as he led them down a carpeted hallway with polished wooden walls and exquisitely carved brass lighting.

"Certainly, we understand that National Socialism has been maligned by the mainstream, but-"

Taylor threw her hands into the air as she spun on the Empire cape.

"Oh fucking quit with your Naz-"

" _Cadet_ , stop!" All heads turned to Ange as she cut off her daughter's outburst. Taylor bristled, but kept her peace as Victor's smile returned again.

"My daughter's impatient, but I will admit I share her feelings," Ange said flatly. "Would you be joining us for our scheduled meeting with Kaiser?"

"Sadly, no. Though I certainly enjoyed our brief time together," Heavy wooden doors opened, as Kaiser sat waiting at the end of a long table in his trademark suit of armour modeled after the knights of old. Victor gave another apologetic smile before he closed the door. Taylor scanned the room and took note of the windows along the eastern side of the room that showed the lights of Brockton Bay's downtown. Ange strode ahead as she glanced the painted murals on the roof the Roman pillars on both sides of the room.

Kaiser spread his arms in welcome, before he gestured to the seat at the opposite of the table where an envelope and manila file was laid out on a silver tray. A man with greasy blonde hair in a metal wolf's mask and a woman who glowed a brilliant white flanked Kaiser, all three parahumans watched as Ange slung her rifle to the back as she sat and opened the envelope.

 _Kaiser, Hookwolf and Purity. The Big Three of the Empire_ , Ange thought as she counted the money. _No half measures huh._

"You've got some extra in my meeting fee," Ange said as she removed a stack of bills from the money and left it on the tray before pocketing the rest. Taylor stood next to her mom, rifle pointed sideways with the nozzle facing the ground while her right trigger finger was just above the guard.

"Now, you called the meeting. What's your issue and what kind of services do you require Tusked Angel Services to provide?"

Even with his eyes partially obscured, Taylor felt the smirk from Kaiser as he pointed to the manilla folder on the tray.

"The details are within the folder, Angel. But to summarise, we require some detective work."

Ange upended the contents of the folder onto the tray, her frown got more pronounced as she looked over the medical report and the photographed wounds.

"We're not a PI firm, Kaiser," Ange said as she stuffed the folder with the pictures and report. "No deal."

"Usually, I'd agree. And we'd use our own in-house resources if mere detective work was required."

The table shook as Kaiser slammed a blade through it, while Taylor brandished her weapon at the Empire's leading parahumans.

"At ease, Cadet," Ange said and Taylor replaced her rifle to rest again, while Purity and Hookwolf backed away when Kaiser gestured for them.

"The issue here however, is that we have reason to believe that Rudolf's assailant was one of your employees," Kaiser said while he retracted the blade from the hole in the table, before he settled into his seat.

"The young man doesn't remember much prior to being thrown into the bay, true. But he recalled enough that it's a masked woman in armour, obviously trained and using equipment that's as good as the riot squad of the local police or the PRT."

Hookwolf and Purity walked closer to the merc's side of the table, while Ange and Taylor both reached for their weapons and pointed it at the parahumans.

"Still doesn't mean one of mine did it, Kaiser."

"No it doesn't prove anything, yes," Kaiser said as he nodded before he lurched forward from his seat. "But we're not in a court of law, Angel. And your company _are_ suspicious."

Both Norma undid their safeties, even as Kaiser settled back into his seat.

"But we can overlook this, nonetheless. Youth have their quarrels, and so far all our reports indicate that your employees are of the right stock to associate with us," Kaiser said lightly, "we will of course pay the requisite retainer fees for exclusive use of your services."

"The right stock," Ange muttered darkly as she stared at Kaiser before the doors into the room burst open. A man wearing a suit of polished knights armour and wielding a long spear led a group of skinheads as they marched into the room, before they spread themselves to surround the Norma. Hookwolf's body transformed into a large hedge of hooked spikes that pointed menacingly at Taylor, while Purity's light grew to engulf the whole room.

"Now," Kaiser said as his silhouette formed a stark contrast against Purity's glow, "shall we discuss the terms of your contract to the Empire?"

Ange glared at the gathered Empire capes and non-powered goons, while Kaiser strolled over to the Norma before he stopped mid-stride as he heard a whine that steadily grew louder. Ange grabbed Taylor as they threw themselves to the ground, before the eastern wall of the room was burst open in a shower of dust, plaster, glass and brick when a red and white beam cut across the room. The lights in the room died, before another burst of beam fire demolished Kaiser's side of the table, the attack missed the parahumans barely when they scattered to the corners of the room.

Taylor tried standing up before Ange dragged her down and covered her own ears, which prompted her daughter to follow suit before the area around the door was torn by automatic fire. Taylor was glad her mother had insisted on wearing hearing protection as her ears rung from the deafening roar of the guns. As the gathered Empire struggled to regroup, Kaiser and Hookwolf barked orders while several Empire members dragged out the bodies of those unfortunate enough to be caught by the beams and gunfire.

Ange and Taylor leapt to their feet, rifles trained on the scattered groups of Empire. From the gaping hole which used to the eastern wall, Ange's red and black hoverbike came into view,while smoke rose from the gunports of the riderless vehicle. The front of the bike smelled of ozone, which clued in the surviving Empire on where the beam had came from. Behind the hoverbike, a pink-red humanoid machine came into view. It brandished a sub-machine gun with it's right hand and wielded a large metal boomerang with a glowing edge on the left, while it floated on the strength of two glowing wings on its back.

Ange looked at the formerly pristine tray, now reduced to a mix of slag and splinters by the heat of the beam before she sighed.

 _A net loss_ , Ange thought as she mentally counted the cost of this encounter, _but a worthy one for the experience Taylor gets out of it_.

"Hi, I'm Vivian!" Ange slapped her face while a high pitched voice burst out from the speakers of the robot. "If anyone wants to join the knight guy in becoming a pink mist, feel free to do something!"

A searchlight from the robot's torso shone at the ruins of the door, where Crusader had stood in command of the Empire men only moments before. Mixed in with the torn up floor and carpeting, was bits of Crusader's armour and what's left of his body that wasn't mixed into the rubble. The hoverbike slowly flew next to the Norma pair before Taylor boarded first, keeping her nozzle trained on the scattered enemy. Ange's gaze swept over the Empire before she joined her daughter on the hoverbike.

"Like I said, Kaiser. No deal."

The hoverbike took off with the riders in a burst of noise and fire, before Vivian's machine swung the beam edged boomerang. The projectile spun up the length of the Coachman's Inn and the four floors above the meeting room crashed down, which left the Empire leadership buried in a cloud of dust and rubble. The robot then transformed into a jet form and blasted off into the horizon to join the departed hoverbike

"Mom!" Taylor looked on in horror as the hoverbike broke the cloud surface. "That's-"

A holographic sphere appeared in front of Taylor's face, the ruined Coachman's Inn on full display. Taylor gaped as a beam of light blasted open the collapsed floors, while a metal dome slowly retracted revealing Kaiser and the remaining Empire parahumans.

"Too much," Ange said without turning her back. "Seriously, Tay. Did you think that a protracted fight where the Empire adjusted to our tactics after the initial shock wore off would be a better idea?"

"Using a Paramail would bring down a lot of heat on us," Taylor said as the transformed craft flew next to them," we can't afford that."

"Which is why we're laying low for now, while I go raise hell in Latin America and Africa again."

"What? Why?!"

"The PRT and the US gov doesn't like it when I let loose in the States without their sanction, and they don't like hiring me," Ange said. "But if I show myself to be acting outside of the US, they'd be less likely to come after me, especially if I go after groups they don't like."

"Hey Ange! Talking about boring stuff again?"

Ange and Taylor both took a while to collect themselves as their heads rang from the sudden burst of noise from the Paramail's speakers, before Ange yelled into her radio.

"Damnit Vivian! Opsec! Opsec!"

"Man, Ange," Vivian's infectious cheer carried over even on the breaking voice on the radio, "you've gotten grumpy after becoming a mom."

The transformed mail flew closer to the hoverbike and jerked when Taylor removed her helmet.

"Taylor," Vivian squealed in delight, "you're here! Hey you got any idea what happened to Claudia? Both Hilda and Salia smoked her like crazy before she got tossed into detention for three weeks."

"Yeah, tell you back home," Taylor said with a smile. "Got some friends to intro you to."

"Sweet! Race ya!"

As Taylor watched the Razor disappear into a pink streak, she heard her mom calling her.

"So, you want any souvenirs? I'll probably be in Caracas before heading towards Colombia."

Taylor thought for a moment.

"Anything but that teeth necklace you swiped from that narco cape last time. Seriously Mom."

"Hey," Ange protested. "The other thing was the ear necklace!"

/x/

Two blocks away from the Coachman's Inn, Shadow Stalker put away her binoculars before she turned into her shadow form and leaped onto the next building. Her face split into a grin as she thought of applying her power to the giant robot that tore the Empire a new one.

"I've got to get me one of those. Maybe Hebert isn't all bad after all." 


	4. Arc 13BB

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

 **Arc 1.3**

A/N. Shorter than usual, but I feel it's a good chapter. All comments and questions welcome.

Also, in other news, I'm continuing the Witch Crown, so you can look out for that soon.

 **/x/  
**  
Zoe Barnes frowned as she watched that Hebert girl leap out of her car, her heart skipping a beat when the heavy thud of her shoes resounded against her paved driveway. The sharp, short bursts of movement of her ripped and lithe body, that defined Taylor's every movement unsettled her. Like she was one wrong phrase or minor faux pas away before she erupted into violence. Zoe's eyes narrowed as Emma took Taylor by the hand and led her to the home, while she stood arms folded in front of a unfolded plastic table on the porch of the house.

"Mornin' Mrs Barnes," Taylor greeted with a half smile. Her daughter's friend shifted uneasily as she stood with her hands at her sides, fists clenching before being released.

"Morning Taylor. Glad you made up with Emma over your _misunderstanding_ ," Zoe felt smug satisfaction as Taylor winced. "But you know the rules in my house. Hand it over."

Taylor sighed, before she removed a 9mm handgun from a holster underneath her jacket. Zoe looked at the firearm, before she turned her disbelieving gaze onto Taylor.

"Only one? Oh please."

Taylor grumbled, but removed a revolver from another holster, unstrapped a combat knife hidden on her left leg and dropped a knuckle-duster she fished from her pocket.

"Turn around, Taylor. I know there's at least one more."

Taylor's frown grew deeper, before she pulled a switch blade from the back of her pants and it joined the pile of weapons on the table.

"Mom! C'mon enough already,"

Zoe sighed at her daughter's protests before she gathered the weapons, inspected the firearms and placed them into a large tupperware container.

"Y'know Taylor," Zoe said. "Prior to meeting your mother and you bringing your crazy survivalist ways to my home, I never had to get so familiar with firearms safety to prevent from accidentally getting shot keeping your guns."

"Mom, enough already! God!"

Zoe sighed as she closed the tupperware and sealed it with tape.

"Welcome, Taylor," Zoe said as she brought the box into the home. "Try not to break anything or anyone this time round."

Emma pouted at her mother, before she smiled at her friend as she led Taylor by the hand to her room. Zoe watched the teens disappear up the stairs with disapproval, before she shook her head and placed the box in front of her newspaper reading husband.

"Morning, Alan," Zoe said dryly. "Mind inspecting the contraband I've confiscated from an armed intruder?"

"Zoe, aren't you overdoing this?" Alan put away his paper as he took the box and went down to the cellar while Zoe trailed him. "We've known Taylor ever since she's been born."

"And she's becoming more like that crazy wingnut Ange the older she gets," Zoe snapped. "I'm surprised that you let Emma get so close to her in the first place, especially since Danny's passing."

Alan sighed as he placed the weapons into a safe, making sure to store them categorically.

"Danny should have chosen Annette," Zoe snapped as her eyes misted. Alan paused at his wife's segue, before he continued storing the weapons in silence.

"Alan, are you listening?!"

"I am," Alan said as he closed and locked the safe door. "And I say you should let it go, Zoe. Annette made her choice when she went all in with Lustrum well after it was clear she's gone into villainy, while Ange despite her eccentric behaviour has so far remained on the right side of the law."

"That wingnut?! I'm surprised at how she's remained free and not in jail considering what she does."

"I'm also a lawyer, you know. Despite all she did," Alan winced as he recalled some of Ange's outbursts, "she stayed on the right side of the law. She's not some ignorant hillbilly."

"Could have fooled me," Zoe sneered. "Bitch never even went to college."

"Language, Zoe," Alan admonished, "yet despite her lack of tertiary education she's the rather successful owner of a consulting firm."

"Whatever, Alan," Zoe said as she threw up her hands in defeat. "Can't speak to you whenever you go full lawyer mode." The Barnes matriarch checked her watch, before she made her way up the stairs. Alan looked at her with concern, hesitation tinged his voice when he called out to his wife.

"Hey, Zoe. You going to that new religion's meeting again?"

Zoe stopped midway and turned back, her face visibly irritated.

"It's called the Light of Mana, Alan. You make it sound like some kind of cult."  
 _  
They certainly behave cultish_ , Alan thought.

"Just take things easy okay, Zoe."

Zoe waved her husbands concerns away.

"I'll be fine."

/x/

Shadow Stalker's eyes snapped open, panic set in as she realised her limbs were bound together with rope before she took deep breaths to calm herself as she turned into her shadow state and freed herself. The parahuman patted down her costume and frowned as she realised her bolts were gone along with her knife and pepper spray. A glint of reflected sunlight caught her attention and she spun to the side, relief washed over her as she saw that her costume-and mask- was still in tact. Shadow Stalker eyed the rope used to secure her and the bed she was placed on before she studied the rest of the room.

"Hmm, well furnished, brightly lit and," the cape's eyebrows rose as she saw the bed of flowers just outside the window. "Tastefully decorated."

Shadow Stalker pressed herself against the wall as her ears picked up the sound of a tray being pushed along the hallway outside the house, her heartbeat raced as the door opened. An Asian looking woman wearing a white headdress, matching apron and blue skirt with bruise coloured hair entered, pushing a polished wheeled tray with a platter of food on top. Shadow Stalker launched herself against the maid in a flying tackle, before a wall of glowing emerald light knocked her back onto her back. A petite woman with pinkish red hair and golden reptilian eyes darted from behind the maid and pressed down on Shadow Stalker. The redhead used her knees to pin Shadow Stalker's arms to the floor, who struggled against the immense strength she felt pressed on her before the redhead pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the parahuman's face. Despite her aggression, the petite woman wore a childish, gleeful smile on her face.

"We've calculated it takes about two and a half second for you to transform into your cloud state, Shadow Stalker," The redhead said in a cheery tone. "You wanna guess how long it takes for this bullet to penetrate your skull?"

"Ms Vivian, enough already. She's just nervous she was caught and tranquilized."

"I wasn't caught, you bitch!" Shadow Stalker snarled as her mind recalled what transpired. "You snuck up on me while I was two houses west of here and then stabbed me with a syringe!"

"And you don't have to be nervous about it, Ms Stalker," the maid said cheerfully, "I'm Momoka by the way, and the lady who pinned you down is Vivian."

The redhead pinning her down leaped off her, landing on her feet swiftly. Shadow Stalker rubbed her hands as she eyed the other two women in the room, before she turned her attention to the food.

"Please help yourself to the breakfast, Ms Stalker, " Momoka said while she pushed the tray to the bedside. "The menu today is Chicken Breast with grated Parmesan cooked in Miso reduce, Eggs Benedict with salt and pepper, potato gratin with mixed vegetables, cherry tomatoes on the vine and cold pressed juice."

 _No reason for them to drug the food,_ Shadow Stalker thought as she picked up the cutlery, before she realised her hockey mask was in the way. She glared at her captors before Momoka's eyes widened in realisation.

"Oh yes, how rude of me. Your cape ID!" The maid bowed before she gestured for Vivian to leave the room. As Vivian left the room while she hummed a tune off-key, Momoka bowed again before she stood at the door.

"I'm sure Lady Taylor would want you rested and fed before she questions you, Ms Stalker." The cutlery clattered against the glass plate when they slipped from Shadow Stalker's hands, "Till then."

"Wait!"

The closing door halted, as Momoka looked at her the sudden outburst from her guest.

"If you work for the Heberts," Shadow Stalker said, "tell her I want in on whatever gig she has!"


	5. Arc 14 BB

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

 **Arc 1.4**

 **/x/  
**  
Alan watched Taylor carefully, as she retrieved the weapons she had handed over for safe keeping before she began to inspect them with a careful eye. An "accidental" flash of her back pocket showed the glint of metal, possibly one of the arms she had hidden.

I'd probably enjoy this display of youthful rebellion more, Alan thought, if it didn't involve deadly weapons in the hands of someone trained to use them.

The doorbell rang and Alan walked over to greet their guest, eager for a chance to not stay in the presence of the younger Hebert who so resembles her fearsome mother. The wooden door opened to reveal a petite girl with dyed pink hair with dashes of red finished with a pigtail, laughing yellow eyes and a playful smile on her lips. The setting sun's light melted over her mid-riff exposing white jacket and pink shorts and Alan stood there dumbfounded, before he gathered himself and bent down to be on eye-level with the child.

"Hi there," Alan said in his most fatherly tone," are you lost or were you looking for something in my house?"

Alan felt his heart warm up as the girl gave a bright smile.

"Nah, Mr Barnes. I'm just here to pick up my charge!"

"Your...charge?"

"Yeah, you sound confused," the girl said between giggles, "I'm here for Taylor, because Ange asked me to."

Alan rubbed the bridge of his nose at the news.

"Ange asked a girl slightly younger than her daughter to pick her up," Alan said, his face set into a disbelieving frown. "I find that hard to believe."

"How rude," the girl said frowned before she began to count with her fingers, "I'm like, forty three...uh...forty two...forty three! Yeah, that's right!"

"Look, Miss," Alan asked while his eyes scanned the street for any approaching adults." Are you lost? Who are your par-"

"Vivian? What are you doing here?"

Vivian's face regained its usual cheer when she waved excitedly at Taylor who approached along with Emma from behind Alan.

"Hi Taylor! Momoka's busy with a guest right now, so we called Ange while she's busy," Alan instinctively winced, while the redhead continued."She then chewed us out before she told me to get you."

"Huh, that sounds about right, "Taylor said before she turned to Alan. "Guess this is it, Mr Barnes. Thanks for having me over."

"No problem, Taylor," Alan said warmly, "you're always welcome in my house."

"If only Mrs Barnes agrees," Taylor said with a bitter laugh. Alan patted the girl as he smiled reassuringly.

"Zoe has some leftover issues with your mother, but I don't plan on letting that affect your friendship with Emma. You're welcome anytime."

Alan glanced at the darkened sky before he turned his gaze back at Taylor and Vivian.

"You girls need a ride? Walking through the streets at this hour isn't that recommended considering where you live."

Taylor grinned humourlessly, as she patted her recovered sidearms.

"Yeah," Alan said with a chuckle, "I'm actually worried for them."

"It's okay, Mr Barnes. I drove here."

Alan squinted his eyes at the petite redhead who swung a bunch of keys around her fingers, before he gave a small laugh of defeat.

"You really are forty three, aren't you?"

"Forty-four!"

"Right, forty," Alan said. "Sorry, Vivian. Just that you're so...petite."

Vivian blinked, before she turned to Taylor in confusion.

"Taylor, what's petite?"

"French word for small, commonly used in English because the speaker's too polite to say you're small."

"Oh," Vivian smiled at that revelation. "I like French! Can we get Momoka to make something French later?"

"Maybe if she hasn't prepared something already," Taylor said, much to Vivian's downcast disappointment. She hugged Emma goodbye and said her goodbyes, before they both left the Barnes house without looking back.

"So Vivian," Taylor said as they boarded the car, "the guest would be Shadow Stalker. What does she want?"

"She wants in," Vivian said as she drove out of the street.

Taylor choked on her water bottle, before she scrutinised the face of her friend.

"You serious, aren't you," Taylor said. "Someone actually wants to join the Norma?"

"Yep! I think she likes my Razor Mk III!"

Taylor smiled darkly at the news.

"I take she hasn't been told what's required to pilot a Paramail?"

"The part where we install a port into your hip? Nope!" Vivian's smile grew larger as she looked sideways at Taylor."

"Wanna do it the old fashioned way? The port I mean."

"Eh," Taylor said. "Best to let Mom decide."

"Wow! You're mean!"

/x/

Steam flowed into the room as the bathroom door opened, before Shadow Stalker walked in dressed in a grey bathrobe, her mask and a towel over her wet hair.

"For a prison, this is pretty comfortable," Stalker muttered under her breath as she changed into the fresh underwear and her cleaned and pressed costume. Her nose wrinkled as she picked up the scent of lemon when putting on her cowl, and she sniffed her sleeves in disbelief.

"Seriously? What the hell kind of merc outfit is this?"

"The type with the giant robots you love so much, Shadow Stalker."

Shadow Stalker spun around to the source of the voice, a painting of a urban landscape with cars that floated on glowing wheels. The cape lifted the picture from the wall and she frowned at the hidden speaker revealed. Reflected light off the lens alerted Shadow Stalker to the pinhole camera located above the speakers, and she scowled as the speaker came to life again.

"I seriously hope you didn't we'd leave you unsupervised, did you?"

"Taylor Hebert," Shadow Stalker spat out. "Quit it with the mind games, I know it's you."

"So you found out that I live in this house and you still decided to aim for me?" Shadow Stalker could almost hear Taylor shaking her head on the other end.

"How stupid can you get?"

"Look," Shadow Stalker said through gritted teeth. "I didn't like the fact that you caved in Emma's face in front of me when she's under my protection, considering she's my friend."

"Emma...are you who I think you are?"

Shadow Stalker removed her mask.

"Well, fuck." Taylor said flatly. "Y'know, I feel kinda stupid not figuring out Emma's friend with a gigantic chip on the shoulder, is the same cape with the gigantic chip on hers."

"I'll take it as a compliment," Sophia said. "Now, your Asian chick in the fetish outfit. Has she informed you of what I want?"

"That you _want in_? Yeah I heard that," Taylor said. "No. We already have enough problems with those born into our ranks, we don't need to recruit those with attitude issues."

"Born? You have children born into your group? " Sophia said." You guys running some weird cult family thing?"

"You don't know the half of it, Hess," Taylor said. "Now, since Mom isn't around I'm-"

"-the one in charge!"

Sophia's face lit up at the interruption.

"You! You're the one piloting that giant pink robot!"

"Hey, you recognised my voice this time around," Vivian said while she giggled. "Guess you didn't recognise me without the voice distorter function on my speakers, huh?"

"So Vivian," Taylor said. "You want this hothead who tried to infiltrate my home in our group?"

"Y'know Taylor," Vivian said calmly, "you're probably the last person to be calling anyone a hothead."

"Oh now you act like an adult."

"Yep! Anyways, if Shadow Stalker wants to sign up, she's got to go through the usual hoops."

"Hoops," Sophia's eyebrows rose in curiosity. "What kind of hoops?"

The door swung open and Vivian walked in, hands behind her head and a grin on her face. Taylor followed behind, a submachine gun slung to her right.

"So, there are two ways you can join up," Vivian drawled." The traditional way is for you to be transported to Arzenal in a giant plastic box, where we proceed to shove a piece of metal into your ass."

"What?" Sophia said flatly while Taylor snickered.

"Okay, so not really into your ass. More like the tailbone, but it sounds funnier when we say your ass," Vivian said.

"And the other option?"

Vivian patted her chest.

"We dump you into the woods, give you a map, a compass and objective. You make it to the checkpoint without being brought down by whoever we send against you, you pass."

Sophia bared her teeth in glee.

"Sure, I'll take the second one."

Taylor frowned, before she pointed at Sophia while looking at Vivian.

"I want a first go at her first, just to make sure she's gonna survive."

/x/

Madison Clements was in the midst of twiddling with her brunette hair, when she saw something that caused her to snap the strand she was playing with. Madison hissed in pain as she bit back an expletive, before she rubbed her eyes and stared at the three teenagers who had walked towards the metal detector in front of the school.

"Hey Julia," Madison said while she nudged her friend who sat on the stairs next to her. "Is that Emma, Sophia and _Taylor Psycho Hebert_?"

Julia stared at the three as Taylor hesitated before the metal detector, before she walked pass the machine and her face visibly relaxed when nothing happened. She rubbed her eyes and looked some more before she turned to Madison.

"You're seeing it too? Think it's some kind of side-effect from the tranqs or something they gave us at the hospital?"

"No fucking idea," Madison said as she began to walk towards the trio. "C'mon Julia. Let's find out."

"Hey Ems!, Soph!"

All three teens currently hugging the limelight turned their gaze towards Madison, who jogged towards them with Julia in tow. Madison started as she noticed the thick foundation applied on the faces of both Sophia and Taylor, her experienced eye picking up the telltale signs of make up to cover blemishes around the eyes and lip. Madison pushed away the observation for later examination as she turned on her brightest smile at Emma before she grabbed her in a hug.

"I missed you so, so much, Ems that I could die!"

Emma giggled as she broke free from the smaller girls hug, before she took Madison's hand and placed them on Taylor's. Madison's smile froze when their hands touched, while Taylor snorted before she shook Madison's hand.

 _It feels like a steel grip_ , Madison thought as she limply returned the handshake. Before she was able to speak, Julia said something that left Madison stammering in disbelief.

"So Hebert. What happened between you and Sophia," Julia said while pointing to her own eyes. "I'm seeing matching bruises."

"Julia!" Madison squeaked in panic. "Stop!"

"Nothin' much," Sophia said as she threw a friendly punch towards Taylor's shoulder," Just some friendly sparring, that's all. Hebert here does karate."

"Yes, sparring..." Taylor replied while she deflected the punch and attempted to twist the arm into a lock before Sophia broke free. "Just some light, contact sport. Nothing deadly serious."

"Yes," Sophia said, "nothing serious."

"Really," Julia said," because it looks lik-Oww!"

"Like Hess here said," Taylor and Sophia both retracted their foot from Julia's own at the same time. "Nothing serious."

The milling crowd outside Winslow High went silent, as the gathered students stared at the groaning Julia before Sophia and Taylor both clicked their tongues at the onlookers. The crowd, sufficiently cowed, restarted their trek towards their education before a short, boyish looking teacher in khaki pants and black shirt pushed his way past the student tide and glared at Taylor.

"Good morning, Mr Gladly," Taylor said while rolling her eyes," something you wanna say?"

"You again, Ms Hebert?" Gladly said while he folded his arms." Even I cannot take such blatant displays of-"

"I did it too."

Gladly stammered as he turned towards Sophia who cut him off.

"Sophia? But you're-"

"I agree, Hess." Taylor said. "Stay out of this."

"Look," Sophia ignored Taylor and pressed on as she loomed over the teacher, "bring us _both_ in, or lay off."

Gladly looked at Julia, who shuddered before she shook her head.

"Just an accident, Mr G. Serious!"

Gladly looked at Julia who raised her hand as she swore nothing happened, Emma who was smiling brightly and the two more menacing students.

"I suppose if it's an accident."

"Thanks Mr G! C'mon girls, let's go."

As Emma led the two girls pass the hesitant teacher, they got near the lockers on the first floor before Taylor threw off Emma's grip.

"Tay," Emma said in a worried tone," What's wrong?"

Taylor looked back at the trailing Madison and Julia, before she turned back towards her friend.

"I'm not a bully, Ems. I did it," Taylor said," and I should take the punishment."

Emma smiled as she placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder before Sophia cut in between them.

"So did I, Hebert," Sophia hissed in a low tone so others could not eavesdrop. "So what if Gladly is too much of a pussy to enforce the rules. That just proves he's weak!"

Sophia jabbed a finger at Taylor's chest, which prompted a frown.

"You're not. Stop acting like you're some meek little lamb."

Taylor slapped the finger away while she glared into Sophia's eyes.

"I'm just not in the habit of shitting on the little guy, Hess. Sorry if that's not what you think of as strength."

Sophia rolled her eyes, but kept her silence as she went to her locker. Emma glanced at Sophia's back before she turned back to Taylor as she gently wrapped her hand on her friend's fist.

"Ems, stop doing that next time," Taylor said while Emma smiled at her. "That wasn't right."

"Sure, Tay. Whatever you say."

Taylor sighed before she gently patted her friend's hands and turned to her locker, ready to begin a school day. 


	6. Interlude 1- The PRT

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux

Interlude 1- PRT

**

 **/x/  
**  
The ringing of the bells as the elevator arrived at the seventh floor echoed throughout the ruined conference room of the Coachman's Inn, before the doors rumbled and Armsmaster strode out with his halberd strapped to his back. His midnight blue armour shimmered from the searchlights deployed by the PRT as they sifted through the scene, which caused Armsmaster to nod with pride at the professionalism on display. A man in streamlined red body armour and a mask that covered half his face saw him and walked over, accompanied by a younger teenage boy in rust red bodysuit with a white shield emblem on the chest, helmet that exposed his chin and silver white trim that ran down his costume.

"Assault," Armsmaster nodded at the older man in red, "and Aegis. What have you got for me?"

"A cape piece," Assault quipped as he handed over a seared pauldron," and a witness. Mind the bits of seared flesh stuck to the mail undershirt beneath."

"Morbid," Armsmaster said, " but I'll take it. Where's the witness."

"Miss Militia's interviewing him on the lower floor sir," Aegis said, "at one of the interview rooms that didn't have their windows shattered from the impact."

"She did? That's surprising," Armsmaster said as he examined the pauldron. His beard bristled as he frowned upon closer inspection of the discarded armour piece.

"Crusader," Armsmaster spat out.

"You can tell, Armsie? That easily?"

"Yes, Assault. I can tell that _easily_ ," Armsmaster said. "Mostly because Dauntless and I had a fight with him, Victor and Cricket only forty eight hours ago. Now, why has Miss Militia began interviewing the witness before I got here?"

"I'm not sure," Assault said, his tone now deadly serious. "But when that manager said something about an Angel, Miss Militia looked distressed."

Armsmaster frown got deeper.

"You mean she got upset or angry?"

"No, I mean distressed," Assault stressed, "as in like she recalled the worst time of her life bad."

Armsmaster clicked his tongue as he pondered the connection between this case and his de-facto second in command before thanking the red clad hero, the Tinker made sure to leave before his colleague can unleash another unwanted pun. Armsmaster decided to test out his suit's enhancements and ran towards the stairs, his suit's computer counting the time saved by taking the stairs. He arrived outside the room, just in time to hear something he didn't really expect to hear.

Miss Militia actively intimidating a witness.

"I will ask again, Mr Hall," Armsmaster listened as Miss Militia growled coldly." You are absolutely sure that it's Angel of Tusked Angel that left the scene of the attack?"

Armsmaster winced as he heard someone being slammed against a wall, but decided to see how things will turn out.

"I swear it's her!" He heard the voice of a man with a thick Brooklyn accent yell, "I used to work in one of Marquis' joints as a busboy. Saw her swoop in after the big M got Birdcaged, cappin' capes and boys alike with that carbine of hers and using some sort of freaky Tinkertech freeze grenades to throw some of the Brutes and Breakers that her guns can't touch."

Flesh met the wall again, and Armsmaster prepped to burst in the door if he feels it's needed.

"So after nine years, you're suddenly remembering things both so long ago and events that happened less than fifteen minutes ago, when the rest of the staff here developed amnesia and all the video recordings are lost. "

"You gotta believe me!" Hall pleaded. "Look, I know after I speak to you I'm going straight to the Empire's shit list. I don't care, I got my ways to get the hell of the Bay and you never see me again."

"So why are you so desperate to get our help in leaving the city," Miss Militia asked in a calmer tone, "rather than staying comfy in a job for the Empire?"

"Because she's got a rep for not leaving loose ends. I'm not waiting to see if she considers me one now that she's back!"

A moment passed, before he heard someone being shoved away.

"Get the hell out of here."

Armsmaster heaved in relief before he pushed open the door to see a middle aged white man in a suit with balding hair adjusting his tie as he left the room. He watched the witness go before he approached Miss Militia who was busy checking her notes.

"That was risky of you, considering how a complaint against you might endanger your career." Miss Militia sighed as she looked away from her notepad, before she gave an apologetic smile that was half covered by her scarf.

"Sorry, Armsmaster. But Ange may be involved in my past."

"You mean your past with the Tur-"

"Yeah, my Kurdish extended family and the Turks," Miss Militia nodded. "To be sure, I've not seen her actually do the shit the Turks did, but she's seen after several incidents involving both my people and the Kurds."

"You concerns are duly noted, Miss Militia," Armsmaster nodded. "Just don't do it again. I need you as my second in charge. After this, I'll visit Mr Halls and remind him to not bring up this session to anyone if he knows what's good for him."

"What are you going to do, Armsmaster," Miss Militia asked with a frown.

"Just reminding him that he's incriminated himself with regards to being a known witness to parahuman crime, but refused to co-operate," Armsmaster said, "I will remind him we can book him for conspiracy charges."

Miss Militia blinked at her boss.

"I do not think that's how it works-"

"You're not sure, Miss Militia since you hadn't time to read the lates legislation concerning us," Armsmaster said, "But I did."

"Now," Armsmaster asked as he flipped through his partner's notes, "Was there anything that happened I did not overhear."

"Probably the fact that she's gone from a hoverbike," Miss Militia said, "to a twenty over feet pink, glowing robot."

Armsmaster frowned as he shut the notepad.

"Miss Militia, are you certain you picked an Empire associate rather than a Merchant one. " 


	7. Arc 15

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

 **Arc 1.5.**

 **/x/  
**  
Ange stared dumbfounded at the holographic image of her daughter, checked the contents of her water bottle before she returned her gaze to the hologram that showed her house on Earth Bet.

"Run that by me again, Taylor. Because I heard some crazy shit of freaking Shadow Stalker having tracked us down and then wanting to join us."

"Positive, Mom," Taylor huffed while Ange heard Vivian's squeals of delight and the sound of a unfamiliar woman's grunts in the background. She squinted her eyes to try and figure out what's happening in the background before she shrugged and gave up. Momoka and Vivian are usually stable enough to run things without her input on Bet.

"Y'know Tay, I've half expected you to shoot her when you found out Shadow Stalker was the one who both poisoned Emma against you and outed our secret ID."

"Mom..."

"Okay, okay." Ange said while she raised both hands in mock surrender, much to the chagrin of her daughter. "I was kidding. You're not your sister after all."

Taylor winced, before she turned her head as she heard a particularly loud strike and the unfamiliar female voiced yelled out in pain and rage.

"Got to say. I'm not that much different from Claudia, Mom. Just a little push and..." Taylor allowed her sentence to trail off and turned to face her mom once more, before she noticed the evening sky behind her.

"Where are you, anyway?"

"The Mana world, Taylor."

Taylor's eyes widened in horror at her mother's news, and let out a yelp when several midair explosions blossomed around Ange. The screen shook as Ange saw Taylor press her face against the hologram on her side, followed by a series of screaming instruction.

"Mom?! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Oh, y'know," Ange shrugged. "Attacking the resurgent Mana nations to trim their numbers, defending our allied settlements and being a general pain in the ass for them. "

"Mom! I swear I'll-"

"Oh, and distracting thirty-odd automated Blade Drones from a reinforcement transport full of civies and Norma infantry. No pressure."

"Mom!"

Ange blew a kiss in response her daughter's distraught scream and topped it with a wink, before she raised her left hand towards the hologram.

"Love ya, Tay! Chat later."

Ange broke the hologram into green, fading shards of light with a brush of her fingers, before a transparent red window appeared on her lower left just above her command console. Ange sighed as she saw the call sign- CM-1- and awaited the inevitable.

"Commander Ange!" Ange winced as her internal speakers shook when the voice of a certain Captain Salia Tereshkova blasted her with its sheer volume and the shrillness of her tone. Ange swore under her breath before she brushed away the voice message from her 2IC when she typed out a response in code on her dashboard mounted keyboard and send it to the Cleopatra, who choose this exact moment to zip past her front with several spinning drones hot on her heels. Ange whistled as the black and white frame of the Cleopatra broke hard to the left and blasted two of the bladed drones with a single burst of her torso mounted vulcan autocannons, before the frame of the Cleopatra rippled out of existence just when the remaining five saucer shaped drones whisked past the now empty air.

"Oh fuck you, Salia," Ange growled as she gripped the handlebars of the Vilkiss and her mail responded, a stream of beam fire from her rifle sliced cleanly through half the oncoming drones which now sought a new target.

 _Clipped two of those Blade Drones,_ Ange thought as the Vilkiss dodged the remaining three saucers with a hard dive downwards. _Another three more. With god knows how many lurking beyond visual and my jammed sensory range.  
_  
The saucers, with their grey bodies and the glowing greenlight of their Mana power source streaked downwards in hot pursuit of the Vilkiss and ignored the chaff fired from the back of the white Ragnamail. The three drones broke off their triangle formation as they closed in, and Ange's ears rang as she heard the screech of the blades as they spun on the surface of the drones when they closed in. The Vilkiss zigzagged across the night, firing widly at the darting drones which slowly began to encircle Ange's mail to box her in. One saucer dipped below the Vilkiss and blew of a chunk of the right leg as it grazed the thigh, while Ange barely avoided having the head of her mail cleaved off when another drone moved to decapitate her machine.

Ange hissed in pain as she felt a jolt of sympathetic pain thanks to the link she had with the Vilkiss and glared at the drones as they hovered around her, with one to the back, front and above.

Then, Ange watched as the ponderous gunship which carried their precious cargo of infantry and Riley fly pass, her propellers seemingly waving goodbye to her before Ange _smiled_.

"Michael."

The white and gold of Vilkiss was engulfed as a crimson tide swarmed her frame and covered her in a coat of ruby, glowing red. The Blade Drones contacted, and their spinning blades, forged with a strength and speed enough to cut across a mountain range a mile wide with virtually zero resistance stopped as it touched the red light barrier before Ange drove her mail's right fist through them.

Ange watched as the debris of the drones scattered over the ocean over, while she imagined her old frenemy Salia laughing at the thought of leaving her to the tender mercies of the Manaist remnant. A blaring alarm and a red light from the right of her panoramic display alerted her to someone opening a singularity portal and Ange brought her beam rifle to bear, with her fingers resting on the trigger. Ange lowered the nozzle just slightly when the black and blue frame of the Cleopatra solidified, but kept the weapon trained on supposedly friendly unit.

"What the fuck, Salia?!" Ange banged her command console when a hologram with Salia's face appeared to the right of her. "You abandonded me to a junkie ambush!"

Salia's blue eyes glared at her with a rage that burned within, while her her long, light purple hair was soaked with sweat. The Cleopatra's right arm reached beyond the rifle that Ange kept trained on her and touched the right shoulder of the Vilkiss, and Ange's eyebrows rose when she saw the video being streamed from the Cleopatra.

"Huh," Ange said while she watched the records from the Cleopatra where the blue Ragnamail faded in and out of existence to blast half a dozen Blade Drones with steady streams of machine gun and beam fire, before she finished the deed by teleporting behind a destroyer with a radar array that glowed with the Light of Mana and sliced the bridge in half with a beam sabre. The video ended, and the Cleopatra flew backwards before she folded her arms and waited.

"Objection withdrawn, Captain Salia. Good work."

"Thank you, _Commander,_ " Salia retorted while she rubbed her sharp nose to keep herself calm and her tone even, for her sense of professionalism demanded she keep in mind Ange is technically still her superior officer. "Permission to chew you out?"

Ange winced.

"Granted."

"Using the command frequency to have a chat with your daughter even as we were jumped on a routine escort mission to our settlements, is- with respect-" Salia added almost as an afterthought, "fucking stupid."

"Look, Salia. I-"

"Not done, Commander. My own daughter barely contacted Mykonos Settlement while missing an arm, and I still kept my family issues off-duty, "Salia fumed. "Whereas you on the other hand-"

"Man," Ange said, "no one can make with respect sound like screw you like you do, Salia."

"I've got plenty of practice, and don't interrupt me," Salia said before she saw the report on her scans for enemy jamming.

"Bad news, Commander," Salia said, this time her tone was all business. "The level of Mana interference with our long range comms are seriously high, like engaged in a gun battle right now high."

"Didn't you just wreck one of their Mana beacons on that ship, Salia?"

Ange frowned as she joined her fellow Norma commander to go through her communications and the frown deepened into a scowl as her radio gave nothing but static, while only the Light of Mana based communication holographic display still worked. Ange flew her mail closer to the Cleopatra, and placed the right hand of the Vilkiss onto the back of Salia's machine.

"There's more of them. Lots more," Ange said grimly. "Going by the amount of dragonium that OPFOR requires to maintain this level of ECM and radio jamming, we should assume that the Enderant Union's recovery of their pre-fall military capabilities are faster than we had anticipated. Two armour regiments with another support fleet?"

"Not too sure about that, Commander, they just suffered some losses last week when they clashed with the Rosenblum Kingdom over some pre-fall Dragonium deposits." Salia countered as she continued to monitor the amount of Mana interference. "The Junkies deployed this after they sicced the Blade Drones on us and there was a steady build up of the strength of their ECM. I believe that they're expanding precious limited resources to try and ensnare Arzenal and Mykonos settlement reinforcements, thus hurt us enough to cease our raids against their recovery."

"Or they're just hoping to kill more Norma, and are being smart and patient about it."

"Honestly," Salia shuddered. "The part about them being smart and patient fills me with dread. They already outnumber us a thousand to one, even with our Auric DRAGON allies and our rescued Normas from the Manaist populations."

"Well, the good news is," Ange said as she looked towards the agreed rendezvous point for the new Norma and their Manaist families. " They're probably not expecting us to deploy Ragnamails since their ambush force is a mere thirty Blade Drones and a single Olbert class ship."

"Or this could be a trap to lull us into complacency," Salia pointed out. "Isolate one of our strongholds on Earth Mana deep on their turf, box them in as bait and leave an opening for any reinforcements including Ragnamails."

"Well then," The red eyes of the Vilkiss glowed, while Ange bared her teeth at the thought. "Let's make use of their trap then, shall we Salia?"

A swirling portal opened above the two Ragnamails, followed by a thunderous roar and the flapping of wings.

/x/

Naomi peered through her binoculars at the distant figures that surrounded their camp, a drab abandoned hangar with minimal decorations and lots of reinforced steel in the walls and doors. From afar, the building Naomi and her unit guarded resembled a cross between a concrete marble with a hollowed out door and a Brutalist art-piece. Naomi lowered her binoculars and wiped the lenses with her tan-green sleeves, before she gave up in face of the relentless rain that had suddenly descended. It was some relief from the unrelenting heat and humidity that had plagued her all morning, but Naomi found herself missing Arzenal already. She kept her silence as she settled deeper into the sandbags piled across the hastily dug trench, her mind focused on the enemy that surrounded them rather than how her uniform and body armour was soaked thoroughly or how she was pressed against the mud that was reminded her of a chunky stew.

Several of her soldiers had removed their raincoats from their field packs to shield themselves and their weapons from the sudden onset of tropical rain, but the remainder of her unit settled and rapped their rifles or in the case of her MG and SAW crews to cover their guns instead. Naomi swept a clump of soaked pink hair away from her eyes to the side, before she tightened the knot that kept her long hair in a ponytail as she looked at the remainder of her unit still capable of fighting.

 _Out of one squadron with eight Paramails and twenty four Norma, only eighteen who aren't WIA or KIA.  
_  
Naomi glanced at Claudia who remained still to her left, arms resting on her rifle with her gaze firmly fixed on the Manaist forces lurking within the vegetation surrounding them. Naomi felt a surge of pride at the redhead's display of maturity and discipline, and hoped that two weeks in detention had cleared her head. But before Naomi could speak, a loud blast rippled through the air and jolted both Norma into a state of near panic as they felt the world churn. The older Norma turned her sight towards the explosion, and her eyes narrowed when she saw the faint green glow of treated dragonium fade away along with the fires and smoke into the torrential downpour.

"Claudia."

"Cap'n?"

"Any idea why there was a Liquid Drag explosion to our six o'clock?"

Claudia rubbed her chin in thought, before her eyes widened in understanding.

"That area's guarded by Squad Two, so Trish and Millia probably rigged some of our anti Mail mines with Liquid Drag? We were discussing this last night."

"So," Naomi said as she glared at the younger Norma," thirty six hours after we got pinned down by a Junkie armoured regiment and you had a discussion with your girlfriends to do something incredibly dangerous. Why wasn't I informed about this?"

"Uh..."

Naomi grabbed Claudia and stared into her face.

"Five days, if we survive. Ten for your two fuck buddies."

Claudia sighed and almost saluted when her captain released her, before she remembered she was out in the field and refrained. Naomi then looked back at the building and the precious cargo inside they guarded with their lives, checked her watch before she turned back to Claudia.

"It's almost time, so I'm going to execute our planned breakthrough with some changes to the plan."

Claudia's jaws tightened at the resigned tone of her commander.

"Changes, Ma'am?"

"We're not waiting for the reinforcements or Vice Captain Medea anymore, _Cadet._ Instead, we're breaking through to the coast through our three o'clock towards the coast three clicks from here."

Naomi pulled out a soaked map, shook off the water before she pointed to the symbols drawn in coloured markers which indicated their location and that of the estimated Manaist positions. Naomi ran her finger from the rectangle in black which stood for their camp to beyond a green circle that surrounded their current location.

"The contact we had with the junkies last night clearly indicated that local enemy ECM is based around one Mana Beacon here at point 12-B," Naomi pointed at a crude drawing of a truck with a radar array, "and since breaking through the dozen or so Bloodhound Ground-type Paramails with armour and infantry support is ill-advised with our two Musket Paramails and only half a platoon's worth of infantry, we're making a break here with me piloting the experiment inside."

Naomi's finger cut through the layer of water that had pooled on the surface of the waterproof map, the wake in the rainwater mapping out the route they're supposed to take.

"Mykonos Settlement will not abandon us. After we've not sent our scheduled coded signal, they're sure to send reinforcements. Being outside the range of Junkie jamming will enable them to find us."

Claudia looked at the route, and frowned in disapproval at both the route and the unwarranted optimism of her captain.

"Captain, this route's too-"

"Straightforward, yes. But we've got only three clicks from here to the shore. Even with the usual sloppy command and control of the average junkie unit, this unit was well-coordinated enough to pin us down and down all but two of our mails."

 _No room for fancy zig-zagging routes,_ thought Claudia.

Naomi folded the map and stuffed it into her armour before she turned back and started walking towards the building.

"Hard to believe a people once so spoiled and docile can be so good at war huh, Claudia?"

Naomi was at the door before she felt Claudia's hand grab onto her shoulder.

"Captain, what about the fifty or so new Norma and their families?"

Naomi fished out a bunch of keys and shoved them into the younger Norma's hand.

"Open the armoury. Everyone walks because the junkies aren't going to take prisoners."

/x/

Major Henri Pearson swore as he swatted yet another bloody mosquito feeding on his collarbone, before he reverted to viewing the burning wreckage that was once an assault lance of three Hunter(G) Paramails. Much as the wizened soldier would like to rag on the brass being complete dunderheads who had their collective heads up their asses, the rank and file to be frank were capable of utter idiocy of a different kind.

 _Figures,_ thought Pearson. _After successfully preventing the box dodgers from escaping the dragnet they had set for them and their new ground type Paramail, the boys and girls of his regiment had gotten cocky and gotten an entire lance of four Hunters wrecked and their accompanying company of infantry either KIA or WIA._

Pearson spat out a gob of rainwater in disgust at the results of the attempted attack gone wrong, before he looked at the frame of his vehicle to take his mind off the mishap. His cracked lips smiled at the twin barrels of the 120mm cannons, the low profile of the his Type-95 tank, before his lips curled in disgust as a flash of lighting outlined the massive humanoid shape of the Hunter Paramail that knelt facing the objective with its fingers within the trigger guard of the rifle it reminded him too much of the Paramails that the Norma used, even if the eye-visor was replaced with a moveable mono-eye camera.

 _At least this variant had weapons built into the torso,_ thought Pearson before he re-entered the hull of his vehicle. His driver, a fresh faced young man in his early twenties turned to face him with a look of concern evident on his face.

"How bad is it, sir?"

"We'll still snuff out the Norma filth by the end of the day, Corporal. Don't worry."

The corporal nodded and turned back, while Pearson sighed at the nerves on display. Still, a far better sight for the old soldier, for at least now after everything gone to hell. Thanks to the Norma Angelise, soldiers were no longer glorified police and game hunters as they used to be before the Fall. Pearson breathed and filled his lungs with air, a personal switch he developed to prep his body to adapt to the liquid dragonium coursing through his veins before he summoned the Light of Mana and opened a comms hologram with the rest of the 2nd Armoured Regiment of the former Enderant Union Armed Forces.

"Attention all personnel. This is your commander speaking. The attempted pincer has failed, and the Norma are now aware we're going in for the kill."

Pearson bit his tongue to prevent himself for cussing out the poor excuses for soldiers under his command at the chorus of groans, and promised to discipline several particularly loud grumblers before he continued.

"To that end, we're doing a frontal assault. The remaining elements of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Squadrons will commence a frontal assault on the objective in-"

Pearson paused as he heard a high pitched whine which reminded him of a positron cannon before it fired, a lull of silence where the only thing he could hear was the rumble of his tank's engine and the rain, before his eardrums nearly broke when the roar of the beams ripped through the air. Pearson was thankful for the dim environs of the tank, for he shivered at the weapon that sounded way too loud, too _angry_ to be the positron cannon he was too familiar with thanks to having once been on the receiving end of them.

"Someone get me a visual!"

Pearson was glad that someone in this unit showed some initiative, as another hologram opened to display _something._

 _It looks like a Paramail, but it's too big. Too bulky.  
_  
The Manaist commander watched in silence at the image of a forty feet tall humanoid machine burst out of a building that wasn't that big to begin with, before the cameras showed a gaping hole in the floor of the now ruined facility. Painted a rusty brown, the torso of the titanic mail bristled with gun ports that spewed rapid volleys of beam fire that pounded on the shields and armour of his Hunters mercilessly until they caved under the relentless assault of lasers. Even at four kilometres away, Pearson felt the ground shake as the unknown giant mail stomped forward, while two of the more familiar Musket Paramails fired on Hunters, tanks and infantry that attempted to flank and surround the machine.

A pair of Hunters fired a volley of rockets from a makeshit foxhole and Pearson watched as the projectiles streaked through the rain to collide against the titanic machine. His elation turned to despari as the smoke clear and the giant mail lumbered on, the only visible damage was the charred armour on its torso. The Paramail responded to the rocket attack by turning the large arm cannon it held on the right arm, and the screen went white when a massive beam emerged and fell upon the pair of Hunters and their another hologram opened up, Pearson watched helplessly as the eyes of the giant mail glowed and ominous red before it too went dead.

"Nothing left," Pearson muttered as he saw the slag and boiling earth that was once two heavily armoured Paramails and fortifications made to withstand aerial bombardment. "There's nothing left."

"Sir!"

The corporal pointed at a new screen that had appeared and the continued onslaught by the remaining elements of the 2nd Armoured that refused to give up. Pearson's spirit rose and he tightened his jaw when he saw parts of the giant mail's armour get whittled down and the machine faltered in it's relentless march. His morale rose further as he received a message from the commander of the reinforcing fleet en-route to cut off the Norma at the coast.

"All units, pursue the Norma. No prisoners!"

/x/

Claudia felt the chill through her pants as her boots splashed on the waterlogged mud and grass, while the rest of the Norma and their Manaist allies trailed behind her. She continued her run, and made sure to pace herself to prevent exhaustion while she kept her rifle slung over her shoulder and nozzle pointed downwards. Claudia came to a halt once she saw a stump of a tree that was split in half by lighting and raised a clenched fist, which prompted the other Norma infantry behind her to stop. Several of the newly discovered Norma or their families continued to run in a blind panic, before they were grabbed and shoved behind back into the cluster of shivering civies and upset Normas too injured to fight.

Claudia gave her nastiest glare, thankful that the red eyes she inherited from Ange helped to intimidate the stragglers into silence before she checked her pedometer. In the distant east, Claudia heard the thundering of cannon and beam, as well as the shattering of steel and earth. Several of the more curious Manaist and new Norma looked at the sight of battle in wonder, but most of the experienced Norma kept their eyes-and guns- trained on their surroundings. Claudia smiled as she saw the number on her pedometer and compared the image of the burnt out tree to the picture she fished out of her flak jacket.

"Good, one thousand steps exactly. This means we're at point 7-C."

Claudia raised her right fist again, before she opened her palm and pointed to the east before she dashed in that direction. The crowd paled at the prospect of changing direction towards where the sounds of battle were coming from, but grudgingly began to move when the Norma escorts started to nudge them. Claudia kept point, and turned back every time she heard the footsteps behind her falter. She counted about a thousand or so steps before she heard the dreaded splash as a body slumped into the waterlogged ground, which prompted her to spin on her heels to see a young teenage girl. The girl was slumped on her knees, which buried itself into the mud, while her formerly pink blouse and skirt was now a muddy tan that matched the jacket she wore. Claudia frowned as she saw the armband with Arzenal's crest of a dragon with a sword through it tied to her right hand, and shoved her way pass the others and loomed over the kneeling girl.

"Can't run anymore? Don't wanna fight anymore, Norma?"

The girl stared at Claudia, her brown hair soaked and dishevlled while she alternated between heaving sobs and rapid breathing. A sub-machine gun was slung over her shoulders, which now laid abandoned next to her open right hand laid palms up in the mud. Claudia looked at the Norma over with disgust, before she hauled the younger girl to her feet by the blouse.

"You really don't wanna fight and live anymore, Norma? I can make things real quick for you y'know."

A older woman dressed like the new Norma screamed and tried to dash out from the crowd towards Claudia, before she got tripped and pinned down by a Norma infantry escort. Claudia shrugged as the distraction was subduded and looked at the younger girl again.

"So," Claudia said as she glared at the Norma. "Not going to say anything."

The girl shut her eyes and tightened her jaw. Claudia sighed and raised her rifle.

"I really don't wann do this, you know. Not in front of so many people."

Claudia's right hand snaked out from beneath the rifle and into the girls blouse. She yelped before she burst into shocked laughter as Claudia made cooing noises and tickled her.

"Coochie Coochie coo-"

"Quit it!" Claudia laughed lightly as the girl shoved her away pulled down her blouse, her flush visible even in the dim light. Claudia picked up the waterlogged sub-machinge gun and shoved it back into the girl's hands.

"You sound energetic and look positively adorable, sweetie," Claudia said with a wink before her face reverted to it's usual stony mask. "Now let's get going."

Claudia had just turned around when she heard the sound of some kind of aircraft approaching and the girl calling her back.

"Ms Claudia. Are we expecting anyone to come rescue us?"

Claudia blanched and raised her rifle when she saw a VTOL craft approach them from the sky, followed closely by a Paramail in flight mode close behind.

/x/

Naomi tried desperately to keep her cool as the Morningstar's onboard computer showed yet more damage inflicted on the external armour. The Screamer Rocket pods on her left arm and torso were now spent, and the autocannons located below them was out of ammo and blasted to hell by continous volleys of tank fire from the Type 95 and Type 112 tanks while her right legs Mass Distribution System was all wonky after her torso armour absorbed the fourth round of Manaist beam fire. The slightly malfunctioning MDS meant that the weight and mass of the Mail sunk the Morningstar every time the left foot touched the waterlogged floor, and the junkies had caught on, directing fire at it to try and turn her mail into what it used to be before the Liberation from Embryo.

A coffin for the Norma,and the worst part is she didn't even get to customise the paint job on this one like she did with her Halberd mail which she had painstakingly upgraded over the years from a Glaive. How distressing.

Naomi pushed the morbid thoughts out of her mind as she continued to take the shortest direct route to the coast, while she made sure that her attacks were loud, flashy and determined to attract as much Manaist attention as she can. A squad of five Type 95 twin-barrelled MBTS rolled out of the vegetation, the roars of their guns doing insignificant damage to the leg armour, but raised the concern of Naomi as she blasted clean through the tanks with several bursts of beam fire. Another two Hunters charged at her from the left guns blazing, believing her spent launchers were no more a threat as they closed in.

"Good thinking, Junkies."

Naomi ejected the launcher, before she pulled out the hilt of a beam sabre from the discarded launcher and dissected the two enemy machines with a single stroke.

"But not good enough."

Behind her, Trish and Millia in their Muskets picked off any oncoming enemies that attempted to hit them from behind her. Naomi though to herself that the two girls more than made up for nearly killing all of them in an unauthorised detonatation of liquid dragonium, and decided she will rescind their punishment.

If they survive of course.

"Trish, Millia. You girls okay back there."

"Right as rain, Captain." Trish's husky voice sounded over her external speakers in response to her own hailing of them, much to Naomi's surprise. The captain had expected the usually more extroverted member to answer. Naomi moved the Morningstar in front of Trish's Musket so her head was right above the smaller Paramail in order to establish a direct connection between the two, and her voice cracked over the abused speakers of the radios within their machines.

"Alright, girls. Last one click before we're home free," Naomi said as she ejected the beam cannon from her right arm after the energy was spent, before she approached a firing line of Hunters firing at her while hiding behind a shield wall. Naomi glanced at the damage report that the computer was blaring a her, and did some calculations.

If I went at full throttle while laying down suppression fire, I might be able to make it.

Naomi nodded as she made her decision and charged towards the firing line, much to the surprise of her two squad mates who hit their engines to the max to cover the rampaging Morningstar. The intensity of the beam fire soon overwhelmed the attempts to answer by the singular shots fired haphazardly towards the Morningstar. The silver-white surfaces of the rectangle shaped shields soon glowed red hot as volley after volley of beam fire poured into them accompanied by Naomi's frenzied warcry, before the larger mass of the Morningstar dived onto the Hunter firing line and brought them down. Naomi and the two Muskets quickly fell on top of the downed Hunters and melted off the torsos of the machines, before Naomi stomped through the back of a Hunter that attempted to crawl away. The Norma captain allowed herself one smile of grim satisfaction, before she calmed down the two Norma currently flooding her radio with wild cheering and crying with a raised hand and shuffled slowly towards the coast.

"Hey, Captain."

Naomi thought of ignoring Millia, but decided she deserved an answer.

"There's a reason you chose volunteers out of us sorta experienced pilots, didn't you."

Naomi remained silent as the Morningstar trudged towards the coast.

"There's probably an enemy fleet waiting for us at the coast," Trish said with an acceptance Naomi didn't expect. "You're a complete cunt, Naomi for doing this. But if it means Claudia survives, I'm okay with it."

"Uh..."

"Millia!"

"Yeah, same here...I guess?"

 _Best to not dishonour their sacrifice,_ thought Naomi as she continued the walk towards the coast. As the coast entered visual range of the Paramail's external cameras, Naomi zoomed in to see who was going to deal the final blow, only to frown in confusion.

"This is...where did the enemy go?"

When the two Muskets caught up with her, Naomi heard a familiar song envelope the battlefield.

T _he Towagatari- Song of Light._ _But how?  
_  
Above them, the golden figure of the Vilkiss shone like the sun.  
 _/x/_

Pearson watched the holographic display relayed to him by his men as it showed the Norma Paramails being herded to their doom. True, the lost of almost one whole regiments worth- almost forty Paramails- hurt the Union bad and they would likely feel it in future battles. But the display of awe inspiring power by that new Paramail has- much as it galls him- earned his respect for the tenacity and technical skill of the Norma. Preventing that machine from supplementing their already fearsome arsenal of Ragnamails was well worth the price paid. The major smiled even as the last five of his mails he sortied got crushed. He had left only two mails and some AFVs worth of infantry to hunt down the race traitors and the straggling Norma, but that will have to wait. Another holographic screen popped up to replace the ones that was sent by the firing line, this time round it showed the view from the reinforcement fleet as they approached the coast and Pearson allowed himself a content smile and sigh.

"Checkmate," he muttered.

Then a golden light blotted out the screen, a song played in his head before the holograph faded and Pearson saw the sky light up. He felt the world rumble and his ears almost bled when the sound of tearing metal made him cup his ears. The freezing downpour pelted him and the howling wind roared at him, before a shadow fell over him and he was faced with the metallic head of a Paramail which leered at him.

 _No, not a Paramail. A Ragnamail._

"Now what do I see here? Here I am to pick up my daughter on her first official mission, and I find that she's surrounded by some fucking junkies trying to murder the fuck out of her. Tsk, tsk."

Pearson glared at the red framed robot as it shook its head, before it pointed its beam sabre at them.

"No one said you can bring friends, or extra toys for that matter. So I'm going to confiscate them, and your lives as well."

Pearson remained passive as his driver broke and fled, only to be cut down by a beam fired from the torso of the red Ragnamail which tore off the upper half of the young corporal. He felt the curiosity of the pilot, who peered at him intently as the cameras on the head of the machine zoomed in on him and the visor glowed.

"Not going to say anything? Some denial perhaps? Begging? Maybe some racial slurs about genetic throwbacks or box dodgers. You guys love that last one."

The wizened soldier removed his pistol and unloaded it into the the visor of the Ragnamail, before he tossed the weapon at it and began to smoke a soggy cigarette. Pearson puffed out some smoke rings as the Norma burst out laughing.

"God, and I thought the likes of you existed only in those shitty French movies Salia loves so much."

The Ragnamail drew the beam sabre back.

"Names' Hilda, old man. Nice to meet ya."

Hilda brought down the sabre on man and half tank.

"Nice killin' ya too. "

/x/

Taylor looked down on her mom, who had just crashed onto the couch in the living room after kicking the door in at two in the morning. Her nose wrinkled from the sour smell her mother exuded, but decided to ignore the stench and shook her mother while Momoka worked to repair the door. Ange cracked open one eye as she felt her daughter touch her, looked at the 9mm handgun in her right hand with approval before she shut it again.

"Tired," Ange murmured. "Sleep now."

"Mom," Taylor said with rising irritation evident in her voice. "It's about Shadow Stalker, the cape that wants to join us. She's here out of costume."

Ange sat up as Sophia walked towards the older Hebert with a scowl on her face. She scowled further as Ange's ruby eyes appraised her from head to toe, before the older woman extended a hand. Sophia looked at the extended hand, snarled and attempted to slap it away before she found herself pulled in and thrown over the couch. Ange whistled as Sophia took her immaterial form and landed without harm before she turned towards Taylor and Vivian, who grinned from ear to ear at the sight.

"I'll allow her to take the jungle survival test," Ange said while she threw a coin to knock Sophia's bolts out of her hand when she reached for the ones in her pocket. "But on two conditions."

"Which are?" Sophia growled.

"One, I will be the one doing the testing."

Vivian barked out a laugh as she slapped Sophia on the back and dodged a snap kick.

"Two, Taylor's almost old enough, so she takes the test too." 


	8. Arc 15 B

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

Arc 1.5 (b)

/x/

Zhao Mei groaned as she watched the battered remains of the Morningstar being hauled across the sky by the combined strength of the two Muskets and a Brig class DRAGON. Every time the cables screeched when the weight of the jumbo-sized paramail strained at it, the chief mechanic of Arzenal felt a panic attack and imagined the giant crater caused by eighty tons of dragonium-infused steel as it plunged onto the runway. Mei reached into the red lined pockets of her orange overalls and fished out a walkie-talkie before she moaned when she was greeted by a blast of static from the device. She ran a hand through her purple hair tied up in twin buns while her yellow eyes narrowed as she checked for defects. With a sigh, Mei gave up and started to shout at the descending party.

"Maintain your altitudes! The cables will snap if you're not keeping the weight evenly distributed."

From the edge of her vision, a young woman with purple hair in an oversized coat approached while her right sleeve flapped in the warm evening breeze. Beige reptilian wings half her size twitched behind her back as the woman stopped to gape at the descending Morningstar, before she barked out a laugh and waved at Mei. Despite her visible limp and billowing hospital gown, her toned arm and frame still exuded pride when she strode towards the mechanic. Mei turned away from the potential disaster literally shaking in the wind above her, and gave the one-armed woman who towered over her petite frame effortlessly with a smile and nod. Mei's smile however melted away when she saw the fresh bandages on the winged woman's abdomen.

"Your injuries aren't stable yet, Medea," Mei said before her gaze dropped to the winged woman's pelvis. "Where's your tail?"

"They had to chop it off, but Dr Gecko and Riley already working on getting a new one for me," Medea shrugged while she scratched at the plaster over her bandaged left wing.

"Stop doing that, "Mei said while she slapped down Medea's scratching arm. "You'll just make it worse."

"Sure," Medea said before she resumed anyway. "Captain Salia's back from the mission?"

"Yeah," Mei's face broke into a large smile. "Matter of fact, your mom's right behind you."

Medea choked as she felt arms strong as steel wrapped themselves around her chest and squeezed, before she found herself spun around to face the glowering face of her mother. Medea felt a stab of guilt as she saw the bloodshot and puffy eyes of her mother and was about to speak when Salia pressed her head into her shoulder.

"Not a word, Medea." Salia said, her voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. "You're both my pride and joy, as well as the death of me. What mother will I be if I'm not worried sick when I see you hauled back with a limb missing and your life barely hanging by a thread."

"Mom, I-"

"I said, shush!" Salia placed a finger over her daughter's lips, before she cracked a smile. "I am very proud of you, Medea. Your broke through the envelopment, which allowed us to prepare our response rather than walk straight into an enemy trap. Though I wish you weren't Vice Captain, which made it necessary for you to stick your neck out like that."

"Hardly a professional sentiment for a Ragnamail pilot, squadron captain or a settlement governor to express, Mom."

"Yep." Salia said with a laugh. "And I'll deny it to the end if you tell anyone about this, much like how I'd deny every playing dress-up with my own daughter."

Medea blanched, and tried to inch away from her mother and her grin before she felt herself locked in position by Salia's grip on her arm.

"Mom, please. I'm wounded."

"Great," Salia smirked. "I'll bust out my doctor's coat that I bought from Riley."

Mother and daughter stared at each other, while the concrete of the runway rumbled and cracked when the Morningstar was dropped unceremoniously. The Brig Dragon which faltered and allowed the massive machine to slip from the harnesses roared in distress as he circled the crash site, in search for a spot to land. The storm of expletives from Mei captured the attention of the pair as they observed the mechanics mad dash to the crash site to salvage what she can, before they burst into laughter.

"Christ!" Medea said as she wiped tears from her eyes. "Chief Mei's outbursts are hilarious, unless they're directed at you."

"I agree, Medea. Now how about-"

"Not putting on that damn magical girl outfit, Mom," Medea said with a long suffering sigh. "End of story."

"Spoilsport," Salia huffed before her expression turned serious. Medea's easy smile evaporated at her mother's switch in demeanour, and her posture stiffened as Salia began to talk shop.

"You're probably aware that I took up rear-guard duty along with Hilda after Naomi Squadron and the refugees were rescued. But has Captain Naomi informed you of what happened to the junkie reinforcements?"

"Yeah," Medea nodded slowly, while she suppressed her urge to view the background drama of the assorted DRAGON and Paramails while they struggled to put out the fire that had engulfed the Morningstar. "Commander Ange used the Space Time Continuum Cannon on the approaching Manaist fleet."

Salia bared her teeth in a vicious smile that sent a shiver up her daughter's spine.

"Oh no, that's hardly the end of it. You see, we're not the only ones who were there. Someone else got _greedy_ , and is about to pay the price."

 **/x/**

Commodore Johanna Lehman stood ramrod straight, her gaze firmly fixed on the hologram that showed the remaining elements of the Enderant Union's invading fleet after they got whipped by the box dodgers and their Paramails. It was unprofessional, but the commodore allowed herself a bark of mocking laughter as she imagined the shame and fear those Union bastards must be feeling after this disgraceful showing. The plating of their hulls were pockmarked and burnt, while the glowing light of the Mana engines flickered unsteadily as the ships struggled to sail on its own power. A mere three vessels, one drone carrier and two missile boat escorts, were hardly the once proud Enderant Union fleet that had been the first to be able to project power in any organised manner post-Fall. A hologram appeared in front of her, and the expression of one of her vanguard destroyer captains can't be smugger even if she ordered him to be.

"They're running on fumes, Ma'am. No Mana beacon supplying them with energy _anywhere_ among their hulls still floating."

 _A fitting end for a bunch of bandits_ , thought Lehman as her fleet moved to cut off the Union stragglers, currently steaming ahead in a decidedly haphazard manner. _Those EU bastards will rue the day they decided to lord it over us after being the first to discover a Tuner's Legacy._

The sight of the bedraggled fleet brought her back to the darker days immediately after the Fall, when the Light of Mana vanished and then the world started to literally distort and collapse before their eyes. Though the world eventually survived somehow and began rebuilding slowly, her once proud Rosenblum Kingdom and the great Mana nations had ceased to exist in a coherent manner. Now, the gathering of factions that only pretended to be the old nations are run by characters who'd have no business ruling when things were just and right. Lehman cast a quick glance at her young XO, a man with brown curly hair who only knew the chaos of the post-Fall world and their struggle to recover whatever their leaders may or may not have stowed away.

 _Days are dark still, but maybe he will live to see our great nation restored according to the vision of this Tuner._

A momentary pause, as a pair of stowaways named Doubt and Introspection interrupted her train of thought.

 _Assuming the Tuner was one of our leaders anyway._

A quick glance with a nod to her XO, and the five Defiant class destroyers with their individual escort of three Fischer submersible Paramails surged forward in formation. The Fischers, with their large torso based turbines that allowed them to dart in the water and their webbed hands and feet that hid surprises was a point of pride for the Rosenblum. Lehman felt hope that her nation was getting back on its feet while thinking about the Fischer, for they were new designs they had developed rather than hulls and tech salvaged from a Legacy site.

 _Union bastards got lucky back in the day,_ Lehman thought darkly. _But now, it's payback time_.

A flick of her gloved fingers, and the commodore adjusted her peaked cap and white uniform as she tried to establish contact with whatever CO that the surviving crew of the EU fleet had elected. Perhaps they can avoid having to sink the ships? Functional vessels, trained crews and ammunition are so precious nowadays when use of the Light of Mana was rationed according to scarce dragonium supplies.

"Attention, Enderant Union intruders," Lehman spoke as her Mana connection struggled to find another party with whom to communicate on the EU ships. Her XO watched the hologram carefully, ready to press the button for all ships to converge and sink the EU stragglers if needed. While the Norma are unable to operate Mana vehicles themselves, they had managed to raise a group of once proud human traitors who licked the boots of their Norma mistresses and could operate for them.

"Attention, Enderant Union Intruders. This is Commodore Johanna Lehman of the Rosenblum Kingdom Home Fleet, Fourth Squadron," she said. "Identify yourselves."

The crew on her bridge watched as the seconds on the stopwatch trickled down as their leader's Mana sought a connection. Untrained civilians would not be able to establish a military Mana connection, so if the ship was captured by the Norma it simply means one less ship on the rolls and one more for the bottom of the ocean.

"Ma'am," her XO said as he reached for a button which would send a prefixed message to all craft in the fleet, "we're ten seconds away before we initiate Norma extermination protocols."

"Hold your fire, Lieutenant," Lehman barked. "Those Union scavengers might be murderous backstabbers, but they're still human."

 _Barely no doubt, but still better than the Norma._

Lehman's tightness in her chest eased when the hologram finally cleared up as a connection with someone on-board. Her eyes soon rose in curiosity as the sight of a woman wearing a white beret with an unfamiliar crest, short lime-green hair and a pair of half-rimmed red glasses showed up on the screen. The commodore's gaze studied the vaguely familiar uniform of a white jacket with gold epaulettes over a red dress shirt and dark blue pants, before she returned to the sharp featured face and brown eyes that looked so familiar.

"Emma...Bronson?"

Emma's eyes widened in shock at being recognised, before a wide smile grew on her face.

"Jo! You're Jo Lehman from OCS!"

"Which you had flunked out from, then got shipped off to Arzenal as a Norma sitter."

Emma rolled her eyes, even as her smile remained intact.

"Oh sure, make fun of someone you've not met in three decades. I thought you died!"

"You're the one who failed to make the grade as an officer," Lehman said with a grin before her face reverted to the cold mask. "What are you doing on an EU ship fleeing a rout? Piracy? Drifted to the Union after the Fall?"

"Oh, nothing much," Emma said while her expression morphed from delight to apologetic. "Just leading you into a trap."

Lehman blinked, while she gestured to her XO with her left hand that was hidden from the hologram's view to have their approaching ships and crew prepare to board. The commodore kept her face tight and her gaze sharp as Emma slipped a life-jacket over her head and began to inflate it.

"Never took you for a joker, Emma," Lehman said evenly. "Can you even use the Light anymore?"

"Oh yes," Emma proved her point as the life-jacket tied itself when the Light seized the reins. "But working with the Norma and the Auric Peoples have taught me the importance of not relying on a tool."

 _Working with the Norma? Disgraceful!_

"You've gone native, Bronson. This is low, even for you," Lehman said darkly as she signalled to her XO to give no quarter. "Even a failure like you ought to have retained _some_ pride in your humanity."

"I did. I merely remembered that humanity means more than just your DNA." Emma said as she exchanged her beret for a swimming cap and slipped on a pair of oversized headphones. "I was hesitant to go through with this at first, Jo. I still am really."

Emma whistled to someone off-screen.

"But then you reminded me how most of you were complete _cunts_ to me except for my dad and Princess Misty, before and after I was shipped off to watch a top-secret death camp that was harvesting monsters with slaves."

Alarms blared across the bridge, as their sensors detected a singularity riff that opened over her fleet. Lehman turned her gaze to the hologram that monitored the boarding in motion to the alien but familiar sky beyond the portal, before an ear-splitting shriek burst forth from the screen. Lehman fought against the sudden vertigo as she grabbed the armrest of her command seat for support, and wiped her wet eyes as she saw several women? The commodore rubbed her eyes again in disbelief as she fixed her stare on the female figures, dressed in colourful robes that exposed their arms and back.

"Those women, something's wrong with them," Lehman muttered as she looked at the reptilian slits where their irises should have been. Disbelief turned to horror when her Fischers, which had surfaced and surrounded the three EU ships turned their webbed hands at each other before they unloaded an entire salvo of rockets.

"All ships!" Her XO, in an exemplary display of initiative had decided to seize the moment. "Open fire! Send those monsters and traitors to hell!"

The guns, and their crews remained silent despite the orders given and Lehman was about to repeat her orders when the destroyers swivelled their weapons on each other and opened fire. The entire bridge crew watched in mute horror as cannon fire from the Defiant classes ripped each other apart at point blank range, before a cough drew their attention back at Emma who looked shaken as her eyes darted around the smoke and fire that surrounded her ship.

"Jammers, now!" Lehman barked as she slid on a pair of headphones, which played a constant loop of white noise. She shuddered as she felt her inner ear twitch from the sounds, but took comfort it was a proven countermeasure to the Dragon's mind control.

 _Those scalies can disguised themselves as humans,_ Lehman fumed internally while she kept her anger in check. _Now, we have more things to worry about._

"Last chance, Jo." Emma spoke, while her voice threatened to break like her plainly transparent facade of strength. "Surrender now and we'll let you leave in peace with your sidearms and personal supplies."

"Box dodging filth!" Lehman spat out as wounded pride swelled within her, while Emma's face darkened at the slur. "Whatever Norma tricks you've employed just now will not save you when we blow you out beyond the range of that scream!"

"Jo, please," Emma pleaded, "don't thr-"

"Enough, traitor," Lehman said before she cut the connection. Another screen appeared, this time streamed from the troop transport closest to the now destroyed ships. The commodore grit her teeth as she watched the traitor Bronson step onto the deck of the EU drone carrier and leap into the sea, before her rage was mixed with confusion as the robed women got on all fours and began to change. She watched fascinated as their bodies expanded, their hair withdrew into a neck and head that extended and grew and a layer of pink scales enveloped the increasingly reptilian shape. Lehman could almost feel the wind and hear the flapping of their wings as the creatures took off from the deck, and one of them dived into the sea like a bird of prey before it emerged with the traitor in her claws.

Her remaining Fischers and ships opened up on the dragons, streams of automatic fire and rocket volleys blowing apart waves of the pink lizards as they fell upon her fleet. Despite the damage and shock caused when several of the dragons closed in on her paramails

The bridge shook and the screech of rockets being released caused her ears to ring. She watched the feed from the external cameras that showed what's happening outside the armoured, windowless bridge and gaped as she saw the remaining ships and their Fischer paramail escorts engaged in a firefight with a forty feet, red scaled dragon with eight eyes and two twisted antelope horns on the head. Grey skies and seas lit up as the nozzle flash from the firing cannons and the fiery blossom of exploding rockets was met with circles of light that glowed with unknown script that deflected the fire directed against the lizard.

The dragon circled around the Rosenblum fleet and several Fischer paramails unleashed their arsenal of rockets and auto-cannon at it, only for the ordnance to either fail to reach the flying lizard or explode harmlessly against the shields.

"Drones!" Lehman yelled frantically. "Unleash the drones!"

"Commodore," her XO said, "If we use the drones on our limited supply of dragonium, we will be dead in the water after this."

"If we don't use the drones, then we'd just be plain _dead_!"

The metal grey decks of the drone carriers retracted, and a green light ran across the surface of the saucer shaped drones before they came to life and sprung out of their resting places. The drones levitated, and fin-shaped blades seven feet in length sprung out from their sides before they began to spin. The drones sliced through the air like a swarm of locusts, the light from their mana reactors leaving behind a trail as they closed in on the red dragon.

The dragon threw up yet more shields in the path of the Blade Drones while its maw opened, revealing rows of teeth and a glowing, crackling ball of energy. The ball turned into a beam, which engulfed and atomised the drones caught in its path, while knocking the nearby saucers off kilter. But more drones, coming from different directions kept swarming forward. The first few would knock themselves against the shields, before the wave behind it will go above and tear into the scaly body of the dragon.

Lehman heaved a sigh of relief as the Paramails and ships of her fleet began to capitalise on the chance and followed up with their own barrages. The commodore slunk back into her seat and opened a connection with the nearby Mana relay station to send a message to shore when the alarms screamed again. More holographic screens opened, and Lehman fell into the deepest despair as she counted the enemy streaming out of the portal above her fleet.

"Ten, twenty, thirty?" She covered her mouth in shock to keep from yelling in frustration as the numbers mounted, then she felt her last ember of hope snuffed out when she saw the dread shape of a crimson paramail approach from the rear of the dragon armada. Lehman's knees buckled as she took in the sight of the mail with its sharp, helmeted head with twin golden antelope horns, wings of multi-coloured fire and how the world around the red and white machine seemed to distort as it drifted among the clouds of the alien sky beyond the portal. But while the world beyond the rift was wine red sun and citrus orange clouds, the sky here was grey, thunderous and wet. The commodore heard distant thunder as she spoke.

"Ragna...mail?"

 **/x/**

Salamandinay watched with a smile of approval as her fellows and followers of House Freyja swooped down like a hawk on a hare onto the dispirited fleet of the Manaists. That the clan she led was given the honour to both avenge the wrongs inflicted on the auric peoples for over five centuries and prevent the people of the false world from being ever able to do so again was something her House embraced with great relish. Her smile dimmed somewhat however when she saw the enemy Paramails regained their footing and started firing in ranks and engage in a systematic defence. That her kin was to suffer completely avoidable casualties due to antiquated tactics and leadership was completely unacceptable.

Her blue eyes shone with determination, and she brushed her black hair aside as she leaned forward to the microphone of her Enryugo. Her cheeks retracted as her mouth widened, while her eyes bulged out and became more reptilian as she barked out a series of high pitched hisses and roars.

 **"** _ **Goro! Kai!**_ " The speakers of the Enryugo blasted out her instructions in Draconic. " _ **Target the paramails with the extended radar arrays and hit the ships with the glowing beacons!"**_ "

" _ **Yes, Mother**_!"

" _ **Stop calling me that**_!" Salamandinay snapped before she realised she had used her Mom Voice and quietened down. _**"Address me as Guardian or Princess when we're on the field.**_ "

 _ **"Yes, Mother!**_ "

Salamandinay bit her cheek to prevent from sighing and instead turned her gaze back to the battlefield. Her cheeks and mouth retracted to a more human form before her smile regained its former radiance, finely honed instincts told her this would be a good day. Goro, with his red scales shining in the dim sunlight, flapped his wings as he conjured up the wind and sent waterspouts bursting out of the surface of the sea when he directed his dragonium infused powers into the water. As the waters too fought the Manaists, his sisters, aunts and potential mates were able to swoop in unhindered by enemy fire. Soon claw, wing and tail turned red with the blood and steel of the enemy. His brother Kai too did her proud as his deep purple scales reflected the wave after wave of directed dragonium lighting he spewed at the enemy, and he had the good sense to aim for the glowing beacons that spread dragonium radiation to power their Manaist enemies.

 _Not bad for their first sortie. At this rate, I'd have nothing to do_ , Salamandinay thought as the enemy ECM faded once the Rosenblum command vessel fled towards the horizon with Kai and his flight in hot pursuit. Confident that the four eyes and superior smell of Kai's Galleon Dragon form will allow him to finish the enemy with minimal ease, the Auric priestess laid back into her seat before she heard a high pitched chime that raised red flags in her mind.

"Princess...," the female voice crackled as the radio came to life, "danger!...run!"

"Naga?" Salamandinay said while her alarm grew at the evident distress in the voice of her long-time bodyguard. "What's going on?"

"Unknown...enemy!...broke...coming...you..."

The eyes of the Enryugo lit up in a series of flashes, and the kin of House Freyja reformed into a defensive formation in response to the signal from their leader. Salamandinay bit her lip as frustration and worry boiled over, even as she struggled to get a clearer picture.

"Naga?!"

"Kaname...shot...down...rescue...ongoing...run!"

A high pitched whine as her machine's sensors picked up incoming heat sources was the only warning Salamandinay got before she banked hard to the right, and a dark purple beam from above sliced the Enryugo's right arm clean off at the shoulder.

 _The STC_ , the Auric priestess thought in alarm as she realised her most potent weapon in the form of the Space Time Continuum Cannon had just been crippled. With her beam rifle and its attached bayonet now sinking into the sea, Salamandinay whipped out her sub-beam machine pistol and turned upwards for the assailant.

"Kai!" Salamandinay shouted as her youngest son finished off the last of the Rosenblum fleet with a swipe of his tail, before he flew upwards at a frantic pace to her.

"Stay away," Salamandinay ordered while she dodged and shot down a volley of missiles, as her eyes swept the skies for her prey.

The priestess bared her teeth as she finally saw her enemy, a Hunter Paramail painted in eye-catching black and purple. But what's really unusual about the unknown mail was the long mess of cables that flowed down to the waist of the Hunter, like a full head of hair. The glow from the Hunter's mono-eyed camera seemed to mock her as an axe sprang out from its right arm, and the edge glowed a hot red before the enemy mail began to swing at her. The Enryugo pistol sprayed a shower of beam bullets, and Salamandinay watched as the black Hunter burst out of range of the buckshot. The mana-light wings flared a brilliant blue as the Hunter shot upwards, leaving behind a trail that glowed. The Auric priestess focused her sights on the Hunter, and her beam pistol roared out its challenge as volley after volley of heated light pounced after the Hunter's form as it fleeted and darted among the dark clouds now lit up with the light from their weapons. The Hunter creaked its head backwards while it fled from her attacks, and returned a few tepid bursts from a shoulder mounted auto-cannon which the Enryugo dodged with almost contemptuous ease. Below, her clansfolk spread out in a loose formation with her youngest son Kai taking the lead. Kai would roar out in Draconic, which was answered with screeches from the smaller pink Scuna dragons as they moved to box in the Hunter.

Salamandinay's face darkened, as her skin tingled when her honed predator's instinct wailed about a prey that had been herded too easily. The Enryugo's eyes flashed out a signal, but the bloodlust had set in.

A flight of four Scunas that had swooped just above the foamy sea soared upwards towards the Hunter's back while it flew lower to escape from her attacks, while a triumphant screech burst forth from their snouts. Even Salamandinay, seasoned as she was felt the surge of primal excitement of her kin as they were about to bag their prey.

Then tragedy struck, as the cables on the back stiffened and came alive. The cables crackled with electricity and Salamandinay choked on a shout when they pierced the Scunas as they ascended towards the prey now turned predator. The black strands formed into rods and cut downwards before muscle, scale and bone that could tear into reinforced steel gave way with minimal resistance. Yet more Scunas dived in, their wings extended, their claws and fangs ravenous for blood and metal. The dark paramail charged, all pretence of weakness now gone as she delivered fatal axe blow to the skull in one moment before the cables turned rods impaled and split another.

"Kai?! Stop!"

Salamandinay did not know if her son had heard her, as his gargantuan purple frame barrelled towards the Hunter like an arrow released from the bow. The length of his neck bulged and glowed as Kai reared his head back, before the grey sky lit up when a red and black beam caused the air to ripple and burn when it burnt through the rain and cloud. The pillar of light was massive, and it threatened to engulf the paramail whole before the rods transformed once more into a shield. Kai's fury, captured in the blast fizzled out as the shield deflected the beam harmlessly into the sky and sea. The dragon pressed on, and soon the form of the Galleon dragon was upon the Hunter as its snout snapped forward with a roar that deafened and rows of fangs.

Salamandinay envisioned the cold sneer as the paramail sidestepped the lunged bite, before it removed Kai's left wing with an axe strike. Blood flowed from the stump, and the Hunter's left hand glowed when it went behind Kai and pulled the neck skyward before it moved. A trail of smoke followed the heated Hunters hand when it snaked down, before it stopped at the chest. The Enryugo surged forward, with the remaining Scuna clustered around their clan head in a bid to stop the inevitable.

Flesh and scale was melted and pulled aside, when the hand reached in and pulled out Kai's heart that was encased in clear crystal. The eye of the Hunter admired its catch, before it gave a disdainful glance at Kai's body. The paramail shrugged and dropped the dragon into the sea before it returned to the admiration of its bounty. Salamandinay froze as she watched her son sink beneath the choppy surface, deep blue turned into dark red as Kais blood flowed.

"Clear as day," a female voice said from the Hunter's speakers, in an accent that Salamandinay could not place. "Truly dragonium crystals fresh from the male DRAGON are the best-"

The Hunter twisted as it dodged a hail of beam buckshot, while the shield transformed into an array of spears that surrounded their mistress like a hedge of pikes. The Enryugo broke away from her Scuna escorts, as yet more wild barrages of shot spewed forth from the beam pistol before the nozzle glowed, but nothing came forth.

"Check," the Hunter sneered as the hedge reformed into a lance, and the paramail charged forward ready to deliver the final blow. As the black tip of the spear neared the Enryugo, Salamandinay growled in satisfaction.

"Mate," hissed the dragon princess.

The Enryugo dipped below as the lance clipped off a golden horn, as the tail behind its head turned white hot and split off before they slammed into the torso of the Hunter. As the paramail fell back, the Enryugo dropped thrust forward and a golden arced blade burst forth. A shower of sparks, as golden blade tore through metal and the crystalline heart before the Hunter kicked the red mail away.

"Well, that's a waste of time. But I'm impressed, Princess." Salamandinay trembled in fury as the Hunters pilot spoke. "I'd thought you mad with grief."

 _A bluff, a spy amongst us, or she understands Draconic?_

"I have seen my uncles, brothers, sisters and even my father perish at the hands of the Norma." Salamandinay intoned. "Now you will join them."

"Me? What do you-"

The Hunter soared above, as a red-black positron beamed zoomed past and missed by a few metres. Salamandinay heard her remaining clansfolk screech their victory and relief as Hilda in the Theodora approached, her frame glowing blood red with half a dozen Musket paramails behind.

"Humph, and I thought royalty was supposed to be polite," the Hunters pilot pouted. The air behind the black paramail burnt, as a pillar of light appeared and widened into a door. Norma and Auric craft fired their weapons, but watched as the Hunter slipped into the light and blinked out of existence. As the Enryugo stared at the now empty air, Salamandinay grasped the front of her robe when the realisation vengeance was denied sunk in, The Theodora glided slowly towards the red machine and placed a comforting hand on the shoulder.

"C'mon, Princess. We have things to do," Hilda said as they both turned their gaze to the sea where the blood was already being washed away. "Let's get your son's body back."

 **/x/**

Ange sunk into the leather lined cushion of her chair, and swivelled around as the message sunk in. She slammed a hand onto her desk to halt the chair's movement and gave a hard stare to a grim looking Hilda.

"We got Kai and the others bodies back at least right?"

"Yeah," Hilda nodded slowly. "This ambush got turned right on us bad, Ange. We're lucky Gecko and Riley are on our side, otherwise we'd have lost Kaname too. Pity about the Heikiryugo though."

"That's fine, "Ange dismissed with a wave. "It was due for an upgrade anyways. Anything else?"

"Yeah," Hilda spoke slowly while her eyes shifted away from Ange. Red eyes narrowed as Ange noticed her wife's unease, and she leaned forward.

"Alright, Hilda. Spill it."

"The Dragons are demanding your presence at the Dawn Pillar settlement on Earth Aura," Hilda spoke, her voice grave. "While House Freyja under Salako isn't raising a huge stink, having accepted the losses as due to unforeseen circumstances the other great clans aren't so understanding."

"Oh? Typical," Ange huffed. "What are they complaining about now?"

"That we Norma aren't keeping our end of the bargain to prevent the Manaists from rallying, and that we're letting the Dragons die on our behalf."

"Oh fucking _spare me_ , those scaly fucks," Ange said while she rolled her eyes. "If the Dragons had done their jobs and had their people scout properly, Naomi and my girls won't be trapped when we went to retrieve the new Norma and their families."

"To be fair, Ange," Hilda countered," we didn't know that there was a Legacy site in that area."

"Yeah, they're Embryo's projects he lost interest in and left behind on Earth Mana, or one of the Mana government's insurance policy in case Embryo fucks them, right?" Ange shuddered at the memory of the blonde scientist turned "god". "But this one's an Ancient Human one, isn't it?"

"Yeah, filled to brim with tech from their war against Embryo and the Manaists," Hilda nodded in confirmation. "So, when are you coming back? Jasmine needs you in Arzenal to chair the meeting before we meet Aura and the House leaders."

"Soon, got some domestic matters to attend to. I'll make the deadline, don't worry."

"Don't worry? Ange," Hilda said with a sigh, "Can't the recruit be handled by-"

"Love you, Hilda. Say hi to Claudia for me."

"Ange! You-"

Ange pushed her chair towards the wall as the screen went dead. She stood at her desk while she drained her mug of the cold coffee, even as her mind wandered in dark places. Her eyes wandered over the office modified from her house's basement, before it rested on the hand-sewn flag of Arzenal. A small smile grew on her lips, as a stain on the lower right edge of the flag reminded her of the time Taylor and Claudia got into a fight and spilled their ice-cream onto the banner. The light green background on which Arzenal's crest laid on was an uneven shade, due to the availability of the cloth that Danny was able to procure on short notice when he made it a family project. Her good cheer however evaporated however, when the coiled dragon on the flag reminded her of her responsibilities.

 _I only wanted to have four children and open Café Ange. Is that so difficult for the universe to grant me?_

Ange slammed the cup onto the desk, and the doors leading upstairs swung open as a green light took control of the door knob. As soon as Ange emerged from underground, Momoka stepped forward to her side, a black armband tied to her right.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Momoka and I'm sure Salako if she knows does as well," Ange said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But considering how things might heat up, I'd have to ask you to remove that black ribbon while we're still here on Bet."

"Lady Angelise," Momoka's distraught look caused Ange to look away, "can I at least wear this in the house until the wake for the members of House Freyja is over?"

Ange sighed, before she nodded and trudged softly up the stairs, while Momoka followed closely behind in silence. The door to Taylor's room creaked open, as Ange peaked past the small crack into the room. The moonlight was unusually bright as it shone past the drapes and illuminated her daughter's dirty blonde hair that was a mix of her husband's and her own. Ange fished out her phone and used the light from the screen to check as she brought it from top to bottom, a proud smile formed when the light showed at least three wires almost invisible to the naked eye.

"No doubt you already knew it was me, wasn't it Taylor."

"Yeah, I figured it was you when you came up the stairs." Taylor replied as she slipped her handgun back underneath her pillow and sat up. Ange felt a pain in her chest as she saw Danny's eyes stare back at her, but suppressed the feeling as she reminded herself he will be back soon. Taylor looked at her expectantly, her shoulders tightly wound and ready to spring into action despite her half lidded eyes.

"So, what do you want, Mom?"

"Remember Kai? Salako's eight son. You met when you were eleven and was being treated at the Dawn Pillar on Earth Aura."

"Oh yeah," Taylor's face lit up, "kinda chubby and tall. He's an adult now, so he's one of those big multi-eyed dragons. What happened?"

"You…" Ange hesitated, "may want to hear it from us face to face, Tay."

Taylor's face darkened at her mother's tone and pressed the door shut gently. Ange stood on the other side of the room as sounds of wires being unwound and some shuffling of canisters before the door opened wide this time round. Taylor's eyes fell onto the black ribbon her maid wore, and she clenched her fist before she faced her mother.

"So," Taylor said as she stood inches from Ange's face, "who did it?"

"We've got suspects, but no smoking gun," Ange said. "But the paramail was a modified Hunter, with some kind of new weapons platform that's like a mane of quote, "living, transforming hair," unquote."

"Sounds fancy," Taylor growled. "I'm going to-"

"Do nothing that'll get you killed," Ange said. "You're going to stay the hell away from this new threat until I found out what or who the hell it was, before you even think of taking it on."

"I'm hard to kill, Mom," Taylor said. "At least, on a permanent basis."

"I know that!" Ange snapped. "But you think I want to risk Embryo's quantum reset resurrection not working, or you ending up in a situation where you'd die and respawn again and again trapped somewhere?"

"You shot yourself in the head to test it Mom," Taylor shrugged. "I saw the videos. Besides, it's not like I've not tested out something like that myself."

"You what?!"

"Killed myself to test it." Taylor spoke plainly, like how others would recall a normal day. "After Riley, Maggie and Aura were done stabilising the quantum reset triggers in my DNA, I found Riley alone in her lab and asked her for a favour."

Ange groaned as she saw what's coming.

"I don't wanna know, Taylor."

"Telling you anyway." Taylor said with a vicious smile. "She heard what I wanted, and she obliged by releasing some kind of plague that gives fatal, instant heart attacks."

Taylor took the hand of her shocked, unmoving mother and placed it on her chest, which would allow her to feel her heart as it beat.

"See, I'm right as rain and as alive as can be. I'm _your_ kid after all, Ange Hebert Missouri. We're both a little crazy."

"Fuck," Ange said after a lengthy pause. "I was hoping you'd get more of your father's genes rather than my crazy ones."

"Feeling some regret, Mom?"

"Should have used the other option for dragonium radiation survival, and had your DNA modified with the D-Type Genotype into a DRAGON instead," Ange sighed. "At least you'd be less like my younger self."

Ange rubbed her face, before she turned back to her daughter.

"Alright, change of topic before I kill you myself. Can you and Sophia miss a week or so of school?"

"I don't think Winslow gives a shit, Mom. Hess however has an upcoming track meet."

"Right, I'll just blow up the venue where they're supposed to meet, no problems on that front," Ange said as she mentally made a note to find out which stadium needs a packet or ten of C4. "Now, the issue is this. Those pearl clutching scalies in the other Auric Houses are having a total cow over this new threat that's likely a Manaist plot, but I've got to have you and Sophia do the week long jungle survival training."

Taylor felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"So what's your plan, Mom?"

"I drop you and Sophia with five days' worth of rations and water, with ten days' worth of ammo and spare parts for your assault rifles in the jungles off Annam Settlement."

 _Hoo boy, this is gonna be like the time Mom sunk a docked Coast Guard cutter after they impounded her hoverbike_. Taylor thought. _She had to brave Ellisburg to get off Uncle Sam's shit list_.

"And where," Taylor asked carefully," is this Annam Settlement?"

"Earth Mana," Ange replied with a self-satisfied smile. "No dragonium radiation for the next hundred miles radius because they never built a reactor there, and plenty of hostile wildlife and locals to really test your limits."


	9. Arc 16

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

 **Arc 1.6  
/x/  
**  
Diane Hess searched her green cashier's uniform for her keys as she approached her house, before she frowned as she noticed an SUV parked two houses down the street from her home. The white car was too nice, too new to belong to anyone living here where the lawns are unkempt and the lives dire. A short woman, barely five feet leaned against to the hood and chewed on a breadstick without a care in the world. Unzipped brown jacket over a white t-shirt and black jeans, Diane's alarm grew when she noticed the bulge beneath the jacket on her left torso. The stranger's red hair and yellow eyes sent a shudder up her spine when their gazes met, before the redhead gave an impish grin and continued to chew on her snack.

"Freak," Diane mumbled under her breath as she hastened her pace before she reached her home. She reached for the door knob, before she paused when she heard voices inside. There was her son Terry, but instead of him speaking confidently as he usually would to his younger sister his tone was hesitant, almost deferential. Her elder daughter, Sophia and her perpetually angry tone was of course, both familiar and frustrating. But, there was something different this time. A focus, even a hint of respect she used to have before Steven made her lose Sophia for good.

Then things got surreal.

"Mrs Hebert!" Her youngest daughter Lexi, spoke to a stranger with a happy lilt in her voice that she can barely remember ever hearing. "Can I listen to it again?"

"Was my singing that nice, Lexi? Stop teasing me," an older woman spoke warmly, with an accent she cannot place except it sounded vaguely like those tourists from Boston or the other parts of the East Coast. This Hebert then obliged and sung, a slow, mournful tune in a probably Asian language she can't place. Then another voice joined in, this one younger, but with a far more familiar accent than Hebert's.

"Oh, wow. A fucking sing-along. Is this going to be part of my training too."

 _Training? What did Sophia do now?_

"I did mention the _Towagatari_ is important didn't I, Sophia? Now, can you open the door for dear old mom? I believe Mrs Hess is intensely curious about why Taylor and I are here."

The door of her house, with the chipped paint and three padlocks opened and Sophia stood on the other side. Her daughter's face was tight, but the way her eyes arched hinted at a potent mix of emotions that bubbled below the surface.

"Hi Mom."

 _Sophia, still as grouchy and problematic as ever._

"Don't you "Hi Mom" me, Sophia. You went missing for three days, and I almost went to the PRT to report a missing parahuman! Where the hell were you?!"

"Mom-"

A glance from Diane, and it silenced her son before he could speak.

"Terry, take your sister and go upstairs. Now!"

A flash of anger across the face as Sophia clenched her fist while her siblings left the living room, before she reverted to the tightly controlled mask and kept her hands firmly to the sides.

"Good work, Sophia."

The blonde woman, whom Diane recognised from the voice as Hebert, walked over to her and patted Sophia on the shoulder. Sophia grunted, but acquiesced when she stepped back and stood behind Hebert.

Diane looked away from her daughter and to the woman who dared-and managed to- order her rebellious child with a simple gesture. A woman, probably slightly older than herself. Blonde and attractive, she wore an elegant white blouse beneath a beige jacket and skirt. The same tell-tale bulge underneath her jacket signaled to Diane that her suspicion Sophia had bitten off more than she could chew was well founded. Sophia nodded in acknowledgement and took a deep breath before she continued.

"Mom. I'd like to introduce you to my potential employer, Mrs Ange Missouri Hebert."

Sophia was stiff and practiced when she spoke, and her mother did not fail to notice how her jaw tightened before she introduced the blonde woman who intruded into her home. Ange gave a small smile, her red lipstick and eyes a stark contrast against her pale, flawless skin.

"Mrs Diane Hess, I presume?" Up close, Diane felt strangely relieved when she noted the slight wrinkles around Ange's red eyes when they shook hands. The blonde's beauty was almost unreal to the point it looked uncanny. Ange pointed inwards with an open right palm and a slight bending of her head, though Diane could still feel the self assurance that radiated off Ange despite her gestures of deference.

"As Sophia had mentioned, I am Ange Hebert, of Tusked Angel Services." Ange smiled, before she placed her left hand over Diane's own. "If you don't mind."

Before Diane could speak, she found herself being led-dragged- indoors towards the kitchen table. A teen with blond and black hair stood near the sink, her gaze judging and her posture like a tightly wound spring. Diane's eyes fell onto the holstered gun on the blonde girl's right hip, which caused her to tense up further until Ange held up a hand.

"Easy there. Now, introduce yourself to Mrs Hess."

"Hi," the young blonde said flatly, "I'm Taylor."

"And...?"

Taylor glared at Ange, before she begrudgingly spoke again.

"...Ange's my mom."

"We'll have to work on that attitude one day," Ange said while Taylor sniffed. Ange pulled out a chair and sat Diane down before she went to the other end of the table and pulled out a folder from a black briefcase next to the table. Diane glanced at Ange, who sat with a ready smile before she gingerly cracked open the file and began reading the documents within. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the contents, the time she spent on each page grew longer as her interest grew.

"You're legit," Diane said as she flipped over the last page. "I've only took one semester of basic parahuman legislation for easy credit, before I dropped out. But your paperwork on a glance is perfectly legit."

"She considers parahuman law easy credit?" Sophia mumbled to herself in disbelief while Ange looked back at her and smiled.

"Told you your mother's a lot smarter than you give her credit for."

"You studied me, quite extensively in fact," Diane said, her lips set into a thin line while Ange looked back at her. "That Sophia's here with you out of costume, means you already know of her status as a cape."

"Correct, Mrs Hess. As you can see from the form you've just read, we're a licensed security firm who have done contracting work with the government. And we got the paper work to prove it."

"Sophia's underaged," Diane clasped her hands tightly in front of herself, "You can't force her to work for you."

"Not without your permission,no. Matter of fact, I can't even let her _hear_ anything when I discuss operational matters. But you should know that Sophia was the one who sneaked up to our base of operations before she got caught," Sophia bristled at the mention,"and was brought low. She wants to join us, but I intend to do things by the book and have you give the say-so before I start testing her."

"Why not the Wards then? They're-"

"Not the ones your daughter has approached, despite having triggered for months now. But," Ange said darkly,"they're certainly watching an indie cape like your daughter, and if she slips up and crosses the line,"

Diane's face fell further than her usual long suffering look and she buried her face in her hands.

"She'll be looking at either juvie or the Wards," Diane spoke through her hands, her voice muffled. "And there's no guarantee she'll stay out of juvie even if she's with the Protectorate."

Sophia inched forward, before Taylor grabbed her by the elbow. Both teens exchanged stares, but eventually Sophia stood back.

Diane gave a tired glance to her daughter, who scowled in return. A moment passed between mother and daughter, before Diane returned to the file. She turned a page and gaped, before she cast a disbelieving stare at Ange.

"Quite a generous package you're offering, Mrs Hebert."

"Honestly, a tad stingy for my line of work. Six figures per year isn't that much when you're risking your neck without the aid of government benefits." Ange shrugged. "Do note that all this counts only if Sophia passes the test."

"Hmm," Diane nodded before she picked up a pen and signed. As Ange took back the documents and inspected them, Diane walked to her impassive daughter.

"You chose this path, Sophia. Make something of yourself."

"No thanks to you."

Sophia stomped out of the house, and the walls shook when she slammed the doors. Taylor glanced at the door, before she silently walked out of the house as well without looking back. Diane turned back to Ange, who was currently keeping her copies of the consent forms and contracts into the briefcase. Ange offered her hand to shake, and this time Diane shook it without being prompted.

"Please, I know Sophia's a handful, but take care of her."

 _God knows I can't handle her._

"Sophia needs guidance and to discover herself, Mrs Hess," Ange said as she handed over to Diane her share of the documents and a business card. "She will learn to discover her own ways and means in life. Whether or not it's with my company, I cannot tell."

"Not a very nurturing and conductive working environment you have there, Mrs Hebert."

"We believe in doing somethings the old fashioned way," Ange shrugged.

Diane sighed and stared at the door with the chipped paint, now with some new spots of paint gone when her daughter stormed out of the house again. She wondered if it will be the last time.

"That's all I ask, Mrs Hebert. All I ask." A pause, as Diane rubbed her damp eyes. "I'll send her stuff to the address listed in your card then."

Ange gave a quick nod and a reassuring smile, before she walked out of the house and found Taylor outside the yard.

"Mom," Taylor spoke softly as Ange walked with her towards the car. "Why the hell did you even bother to approach the Hess family? If Sophia makes the cut, she's probably not going to be back in Brockton Bay for months while we isolate and work on getting her DNA modified to be immune to dragonium radiation. Now? She's going to think that we kidnapped her."

"Weeks, actually."

"What?"

"Ten days, to be precise. We don't even need Riley, Gecko or even Maggie to oversee it now," Ange said. "The Medical Corp has the gene splicing and modification down to something almost routine. For it to take months or even years as it was during the time you were born is ancient history now. But that's not the reason I approached her guardian."

Ange stopped about fifteen feet from the SUV, a comfortable distance enough that Vivian and Sophia will not overhear her.

"I'm done with the taking children away from their mothers business. If I can plausibly get permission, I prefer to get it."

"...It's got something to do with your past, isn't it Mom?"

Ange clicked her tongue, but said no more as she stepped into the car.

/x/

Sophia's camouflage green face frowned as she flipped open her dust cover once more, to inspect the chamber as she had been taught for any stray rounds. The videos that Ange and Vivian showed her about some unfortunates who had neglected to check their weapons properly left a deep impression- a very raw, bloody impression. The unfamiliar feeling of the green camouflage fatigues she and Taylor wore caused her skin to itch, despite the baby powder she had applied. She took off her webbing covered helmet and allowed it to hang off her neck by the straps, before she started to inspect the fully loaded magazines in her pouches.

It felt different from her crossbow, the feel and weight of either her pistol side-arm or the rifle she was issued with. Vivian had over the past week since she left home, drilled into her that the only non-lethal option for these weapons were basically not hitting what you're aiming at. the four hundred pound wild boar Ange and Vivian had unleashed on her and Taylor. The way the air cracked when she first opened fire with her rifle, and how bone, fat and muscle split open when the round went through. Sophia shuddered as she recalled her first kill with a firearm.

Her firearm. A buddy for life that'll take care of you if well taken care of, and fuck you over at the worst possible moment if you don't.

 _Thank God I didn't have the connections or inclination to have chosen to use guns_. _The PRT would have been on my ass within the week._

"Safety."

Sophia snapped her head up at Taylor, who leaned against the seat-belt lined walls of the transport they were in. It reminded Sophia of a smaller version of the shipping containers that littered the Ship Graveyard, but Taylor's nonchalant entry into the box had driven any apprehension she felt far away. There was a crackling sound about ten minutes ago after they had taken off, and the air now felt a lot muggier than it ever is in New England, let alone Brockton Bay. The low drone of the hoverbike's engine sounded almost soothing to Sophia, but the presence of her partner for this exercise annoyed her to no end.

 _God, after a week literally sleeping, eating, training, even going potty together I'd thought I would learn to sort-of like her._

"I know the safety drill, He-Taylor. Vivian spent two hours last night drilling me over this."

"You minded the last name, nice one Sophia. But you're still not getting it."

 _But nope, still a stuck up whack-job. She'd be interesting to observe, if she wasn't joined to the hip with me._

"Get what?!" Sophia snapped. "I've got the magazine out, there's no round in the chamber. What else is there?"

Taylor sighed while she walked over, and pulled the trigger several times to drive home the point before she snapped the safety selector to position. Sophia's face darkened as the lesson sunk in, and left the rifle on the floor as she stomped over and shoved Taylor.

"Where the fuck do you get off on being all high and mighty, Hebert?! Nobody touches my stuff except for me!"

Taylor clicked her tongue in disgust, and pushed Sophia away with the butt of her rifle.

"I'm only trying to stay without a couple more assholes in me, because some clueless bitch didn't remember her goddamned safety and shot me!"

"Oh believe me. If I shot you," Sophia growled. "it'd be completely deliberate."

The transport rumbled, as it jerked hard to the left. Both passengers stumbled to the sides and grabbed whatever they could for balance, before a speaker crackled to life.

"Alright you two, I can see what you two are doing inside. Don't make me come in there! Sophia? Remember the goddam rule on using the fucking last name! We only use it when one of us dies!"

Both teens grabbed onto the seat-belts while they glared silently at each other.

"I can't hear you!"

"Yes Ma'am!" The girls barked in chorus before the speaker went dead again.

"You're welcome, by the way," Taylor drawled out as she leaned the back of her head against the wall. The transport jerked again, and a loud roar had Sophia bolt to her feet and dash to her rifle.

"That would be our escorts to Annam Settlement," Taylor said before she pressed a button at the front of the transport. A section of the grey wall folded upwards and revealed a flat screen, and Taylor slapped the side of the screen before the choppy video cleared up to show a large, four-eyed dragon with red scales and massive horns. Four paramails in their jet form flew behind the dragon while the sun reflected off their brightly polished yellow frames. Taylor squinted at the dragon, before her face brightened in realisation.

"It's Seth. Hmm, didn't expect him to be here on Earth Mana."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Taylor. Have you lost it and thought a dragon from a TV show is real?"

Taylor gave a short laugh, and pointed at the four yellow paramails on screen.

"Remember the Coachman's Inn? We're not in showbiz, Sophia."

Sophia's mouth open to rebut, before she snapped it shut. The former vigilante placed her right ear against the walls, before she cracked a gleeful grin.

"Shit. It's real isn't it? That big honking dragon is right outside! This world has fucking dragons to go with the giant robots!"

" _He_ is real," Taylor said insistently. "They're the men of the Auric peoples who have given up their human forms to engage in a never-ending task of containing a world and defending it. Vivian's also one, although she's far, far smaller when transformed."

"No fucking wonder she's so small yet so strong," Sophia said, her tone manic with glee.

"You seem almost happy that Vivian's a dragon. Why?"

Sophia shivered in anticipation as she looked at the screen, her eyes almost glazed over in bliss.

"Because this proves I've made the right choice! I've applied to the biggest group of alpha predators there are!"

 _Still on about that predator-prey nonsense, huh?_ Taylor thought, even as she kept her peace and settled for a disapproving frown. _I guess you'll have to find out that the line between predator and prey is very, very thin._

/x/

Seth burst out of the clouds and swooped down towards the marshy coast, the tree-tops swayed as the big lizard flew over them. He hovered above the coast, the four golden eyes studied the terrain carefully before he drew hia elongated throat back and let loose with a gout of white flame that charred a swathe of the forested coast clear. Ange's hoverbike and attached transport followed behind, flanked by four paramails in Destroyer form while she slowly lowered the bike and its cargo towards the newly made landing. The door of the transport hissed and emitted clouds of smoke as it depressurized and the thick entrance slowly opened. The two trainees walked out, dressed in long-sleeved jungle green camouflage, body armour and a backpack filled to the brim. Sophia tipped the edge of her helmet, while Taylor gave a glance to the dragon Seth, who had lowered his head to Taylor's eye level.

"Thanks Seth," Taylor said as she hugged and patted the dragon's snout. "Catch you at the settlement soon."

"Alright girls, listen up," Ange said. "Annam Settlement has been marked in your maps, and your objective is to reach it by 1030 hours seven days from now. If you do know the way, then you'd reach it in four days. But if you do get lost, then you'd have to hold up for seven days before we come get you. Remember, it's a jungle _survival_ test. Staying alive and safe is as much your objective as is reaching the settlement."

"I've been through jungle training with you before, Mom. This place reminds me of Florida's swamps already."

"Oh, Tay. If you think that Annam's jungles are anything like Florida with me beside you, then you've got a rude awakening in store."

"Wait? I thought you're supposed to test us," Sophia said. "How you gonna do that if you're not with us?"

"Simple," Ange smirked. "The shake I watched the two of you down earlier this morning had some nanites in them, so currently, your bloodstream is acting like a tracking beacon for my Vilkiss to pinpoint. Now, stay alive and we'll meet again. Hopefully, very soon."

The two teens watched as Ange and the rest of their escorts departed into the sky, before Taylor removed her map from her pack. She took out a red marker from her webbing, and began to mark out important locations before she started to frown.

"Hey, Sophia. Your map."

"Get your own, bitch. And I swear I'll shoot you if you try to take it from me."

Taylor gave a hard stare at her partner, before she shook her head and started scanning around her with a Geiger counter.

"I _strongly suggest_ you take a look at the map," Taylor said while her eyes remained fixed on the counter. "You'll find it very familiar."

Sophia huffed, but relented as she pulled out the map from her webbing. A few minutes passed before she screamed in frustration and ripped it up.

"When the fuck did she replace our map with one of Brockton?!"

"We'll study that over the next few days, Sophia of how my mom played us," Taylor said as she put the counter back into her pack. "Good news is, at least we're in Annam at least. There's no trace of dragonium radiation, and the jungle looks like the ones we watched in the briefing video."

Both teens stared at the grey and cloudy sky where Ange and her party had disappeared into, before they turned to the dense jungle ahead of them.

"What now, Blondie. We gonna wait here and play Girl Scout by the coast before Mommy comes to pick you up?"

"Good way to flunk, Sophia. And don't you call me blondie."

Sophia followed Taylor's gaze, and arched an eyebrow.

"Going in without a map? You serious?"

Taylor silently slung on her backpack and helmet, before she advanced into the dense vegetation. Her posture was crouched, her pace was steady and her eyes followed where the front of her rifle was pointed at. Sophia scowled and followed behind in a similar fashion, while she took pains to ensure that the rifle nozzle never pointed at Taylor's back.

 _See?!_ Sophia thought. _I can play soldier too_.

"Hey, Taylor."

"What? And keep your voice down. Even friendlies are liable to shoot first if there's unexpected people out in the jungle, and most people here _aren't_ friendly."

Their boots crunched against the dense vegetation, and the occasional snapped branch prompted an expletive from them as they moved deeper into the jungle.

"I joined up because I wanted to make something of myself, to really clean up the city of trash."

"And you thought joining Tusked Angel is the way to do it?" Taylor chuckled. "Admit it, you're after the paramails."

"Those too. But what about you? Why did you join. Just because your mom's doing it?"

Taylor's pace slowed, as she considered her answer.

"You ever saw something you, really, really wanted to have?"

"Yeah? What, you literally want your mommy? That's why you follow her footsteps?"

Taylor picked up her pace, her eyes focused ahead while her upper body was hunched over to present a smaller target.

"Not her so much as what she represents. From as far back as I could remember, Mom had told me about her job and what we Norma are."

"What's a Norma?"

"What you'll be considered and turned into if you survive this test, Sophia. And I wasn't done speaking."

Taylor raised her left fist and crouched down to a prone position, before she placed the butt of her weapon against her shoulder and peered into the iron sights. Sophia knelt down behind, activating her shadow mode and floated to thicker undergrowth before she reformed and looked ahead at where Taylor was pointing her weapon at. She frowned when all she saw was a clearing, with a still smoking pile of burnt vegetation in the middle.

"The camp was broken only very recently, and they're sloppy in covering their tracks," Taylor said as she crawled towards the edge of the clearing. "Either the Annam girls under Nonna and Mary had let themselves go, or we've got junkies trolling around here."

"Junkies?"

"Manaists. The ones we briefed you about, like Momoka except complete bastards genetically programmed to loathe and fear us. Barring a few who overcame their programming of course."

Taylor swept the perimeter of the abandoned site with her rifle once more, before she waved her fist forward and both teens approached the camp. Sophia took point, jogging in shadow form over to the camp in case of traps. Taylor watched as her partner jumped around, her legs sinking into the ground before she pulled them out. After the fourth time she sunk her feet into the ground, Sophia stood up straight and raised both hands clasped together.

"So, about you joining up with Tusked Angel?"

Taylor walked past Sophia, and picked at the ash pile with a tree branch left behind as she sat down cross-legged.

"Once, when we went hiking on Captain's Hill when I was seven, Mom was so far ahead of me I simply gave up and dropped onto the floor. After my dad died, she spent most of the time away from the house, usually leaving me in Mr Barnes' care or Aunt Hilda and Claudia if they're available. Momoka didn't appear much at my home till I was past eleven, though we spoke often on the phone."

"And...?"

"Mom trains with you, but she almost never gives more help than is needed. When I dropped, she turned back to watch me but didn't move to pick me up. We had a stand off, from sunrise until noon."

"And I thought my family life was shit," Sophia said. "So, you managed to get her to break and she coddled you."

"No, come noon she turned around and walked away from me. She disappeared into the distance-"

"Fuck!"

"But then, when I stood up and took a step forward, she dropped everything and ran back to hug me. She left everything behind and carried me downhill and home."

"Huh."

"Eloquent,aren't you Sophia."

"Piss off," Sophia snarled as she kicked the grass. "But you know, it's still seven shades of fucked up. She maybe, kinda abandoned you and then ran back to pick you up? Did she breakdown and sob like a baby?"

Taylor looked away.

"Fuck. I _only_ had a neglectful mother who couldn't score a decent man and make the correct decisions, not some bipolar maniac who's a trained killer."

"And yet, you still admire my mother when compared to yours, knowing her faults," Taylor said. "Why?"

Sophia shrugged.

"Your mom's fucked up, but I like the trained killer part. She's not pathetic like my own."

Taylor ceased poking the pile, and gave an incredulous stare at her partner.

"I've no words, Sophia."

"Good," Sophia snarled. "Keep it to yourself if you do anyways."

/x/

Night fell onto the Annam jungle like a shroud, as Taylor and Sophia continued their trek with Taylor taking point. A pair of glow-sticks hung off their webbing at the shoulder level, providing a dim ambient light that glowed light blue. Every hundred paces or so, Sophia would turn into her shadow form and sweep the front, her leg sinking into the ground for traps and other surprises.

"Clear. C'mon Taylor," Sophia said. " You do know where we're going right?"

"Only a vague idea, but considering the vegetation gets thinner the further west we go, Annam Settlement should be this direction."

"Should?" Sophia said as she turned around. "Not good enough. We spent three days trudging through this jungle, and I'm fucking sick of it."

"No map? I'm the best you're gonna get since you've never even been outside a city before. Or do you have a better idea?"

Sophia grit her teeth, but turned around and resumed leading the trek. Taylor's shoulder relaxed and she fell in behind her partner as they moved northwards.

"Why not we stay behind, find a clearing or something? We already find three such sites around here. If the people who made them are hostile, then we cap them. Simple as that."

"I wish it were so simple, Sophia. We're not sure how many of them are there, and what they're packing. Sure, they're pretty sloppy in cleaning up themselves, but to see so many of the sites in such a small area? Annam settlement appears to have a lot more Manaist villages then we'd think. Plus, we have to worry about us running low on food, clean water and insect repellent."

"I get the first two," Sophia said. "But insect repellent? Scared of a few bugs?"

"Said the girl who spent five hours our first day bitching about mosquitoes. But yeah, insects in the tropics carry several nasty diseases and poisons. Neither of us have any immunity or even resistance to them."

"Maybe for you, Taylor."

"Oh please. An insect's poison when applied correctly can fuck up prey like tooth and claw-"

Branches rustled in front, and Taylor's hand reached out to Sophia's shoulder. They both dropped to the floor, stuffed their glow-sticks into their uniform and began to crawl forward. Taylor picked up her pace, and soon was next to Sophia.

"You heard them, didn't you. I can't see through the vegetation, can you?"

"I've got nothing either. But I can do better."

Sophia transformed again, and her shadow form traversed the vegetation silently. The branches and grass she coursed through remained still, and Sophia felt her chest burn as she scooped out her prey in the dark.

 _There, up ahead. Five of them, two adult men and three teens. One of the teens might be female, and the adult with the scraggly beard appears to be their leader. All carrying firearms, might be a shotgun for two of them at the back. The adults have bayonets affixed to their rifles, some worn out olive camo uniforms and caps with crests on them._ Sophia took a deep breath to calm her mind and focus her thoughts _. No uniforms for the teens, and their clothes are worn and patched together. Guns are pretty well maintained though._

Sophia crouched down and stayed still in her shadow form as she watched with a disapproving frown how the Manaist team walked through the undergrowth with loud, rustling steps. Her nose wrinkled as Sophia picked up the now familiar scent of Taylor's sweat and she laid down while her partner approached from behind. Sophia turned back and flashed an open palm, before she withdrew all except the middle and pointer fingers.

 _Five junkies, two priority targets. Not too big a threat.  
_  
Taylor nodded and mimicked a throwing motion, which prompted Sophia to bare her teeth in anticipation and reached for the grenade pouch on her left before Taylor shook her head. Sophia frowned, but reached for the one on her left and pulled out a tube-like device. She gripped the tube and slid her finger into the ring. Sophia shuddered with anticipation, before she felt Taylor gingerly placed a hand on her back.

"Await my signal, Sophia."

Sophia bit down a retort at the whispered instruction and nodded, while her heartbeat pounded in her ears.

"One."

Her left hand that gripped the tube stiffened, while her index finger tugged at the pin. Sophia picked up the scent of spent gunpowder and remembered the screams she heard in the videos Ange had showed her.

"Two."

The two adult Manaists went further ahead, and a gap of about eight feet opened in the Manaist patrol. Both Sopha and Taylor cursed internally at the lost of an easy kill.

"Three."

The pin went off, and Sophia went shadow and leaped over the patrol silently and tossed the grenade. The canister sailed over the heads of the adults before it went off in a burst of noise and light. The two adult Manaists who had thrown up a light shield upon hearing the dull thud of the grenade, now yelled out in pain and shock as the light and pressure from the flashbang overwhelmed their sight and hearing which was not protected by the shield. The three teens that trailed behind dropped prone to the floor and opened up in random direction while they yelled out wordlessly. Sophia stood there unmoved as rounds passed through her, before she raised her weapon and took aim. Taylor fired, enveloping the left of the Manaist patrol in another field of fire and aroused more panicked yelling from the teens. Sophia smirked as she aimed at the adult with the crest in his cap.

Then the leading Manaists raised their hands, and a wall of light rammed Sophia's shadow form onto the floor.

"Sophia!"

Taylor made a mad dash out of cover, her rifle's nozzle flashed as she continued to lay down fire on the huddled teens behind the two adult Manaists. Both adult Manaist turned towards her and Taylor jumped forward into the undergrowth just before they opened fire. Gunshots rang out, and Taylor could hear the baritone of the two adults as they yelled at the confused teens who had ceased their shooting. Taylor lobbed another grenade, and one the bearded Manaist deployed a shield which bounced the explosive harmlessly into the air where it blew up in a shower of shrapnel that slid down the glowing wall.

"Norma! Trainees, call for back up!"

A glowing holographic screen appeared, and Taylor took full advantage of the sudden illumination as she dashed out of the vegetation and opened fire. The adults blocked her shots while she charged towards them and shattered the wall of light with a brush of her elbow followed by a single shot to the neck of the bearded one. His partner rounded his weapon towards Taylor as she loomed over the corpse of the bearded Manaist, before he gurgled as the tip of a crossbow bolt emerged from his neck. Sophia reformed into her material shape and the corpse of the skewered Manaist dropped into the damp grass. Both teens watched, put back their glow-sticks and watched as the remaining Manaists shivered and pulled their triggers to no effect.

"So," Sophia said as she shot one teenage boy who reached for his pockets in the torso. "How did you guess they were out of ammo?"

"No belt fed MG, and they were firing wildly without pause," Taylor said as she fired a burst into the back of the other teen boy who fled. "I can count."

"'kay," Sophia shrugged as she glared down at the remaining girl who shivered. She stepped on the spent shotgun the Manaist dropped on the floor, and slid it back towards Taylor who began to study the weapon while Sophia bared her teeth like a shark prepared to chomp down.

"So, girlie. You speak English?"

"Most of 'em do," Taylor said while she took the stock of the captured weapon apart. "English appears to be a common tongue on Earth Mana. Lucky for us then, huh?"

"Yeah," Sophia slapped a mosquito that landed on her collar. "Real lucky to smell like shit, re-enacting Rambo on an alien tropical jungle."

"You asked for it, Sophia." Taylor removed the firing mechanism from the shotgun and dumped the rest of it on the grass. The Manaist girl trembled as she moved her hands towards her pockets, before Sophia drove her boots into the Manaist's chest.

"No, girlie. You wanna do anything, like scream, cry or take a fright piss? You ask me or Taylor here for permission. Now-"

The Manaist's body shook as she sobbed, and Taylor widened her eyes when she noticed in the dim light the girl puff her cheeks and bite down.

"Sophia!"

"What-"

Taylor dragged her partner behind her, before she turned around and both trainees fell onto the grass. Sophia felt the damp mud, and the world shook before her ears started to ring when she heard a loud blast from the direction of her prisoner.

"What the fuck?! A suicide bomb?!" Sophia yelled from beneath Taylor, before she pushed her partner off. "And they call me crazy."

Taylor dropped limply onto the wet turf, and Sophia noticed in the chest wasn't moving. A chill settled into the pit of her stomach, as Sophia ripped out her glowstick and began to slap Taylor's cheeks. Her very, very pale cheeks.

"Hey Tay?! Wake the fuck up! You're supposed to be on watch tonight!"

Another couple of slaps, before Sophia flipped Taylor over and saw the chunks of missing back, legs and partially exposed scalp from the shrapnel and explosive force. Sophia slumped limply to the ground, and buried her head in her hands.

"Vivian's going to use me as a chew-toy before Ange kills me,"Sophia muttered. She breathed into her hands, and slowly looked up at the corpse of her partner. She got to her feet, dropped her pack and lifted the body onto her back before she trudged north.

"We're _both_ getting the fuck out of this jungle, Hebert. Or we're both staying here. You are strong! I refuse to let you die here among the sheep!"

Five steps, before a brilliant light drowned out Sophia's peripheral vision and she felt Taylor's chest move again.

" _We're both staying here_. God! Better not let Emma hear that, Sophia. She'll be so jealous."

Sophia dropped Taylor onto the ground, and shoved her laughing partner away with a single kick to the chest.

"You heard nothing! Nothing!"

Taylor laughed harder as she walked past a fuming Sophia.

/x/

Taylor and Sophia crouched in the dense undergrowth, as they watched a woman with short brown hair partially obscured by a white, dirty veil and worn out patched clothes. The veiled woman stood next to a gentle slope beneath a large tree that blocked the midday sun, as she expertly cut off several plants with a sickle. She would then brush off the soil from the plants, before she dumped them into a woven basket half her size that she wore on her back.

"Hungry," Sophia whispered as she kept the local in her sights. Taylor nodded in agreement, as she glanced at her back, where her pack used to be.

"Junkie bitch blew up our food supplies with herself," Sophia continued. "And there's been nothing but snakes to be found in this craphole."

"Please don't tell me you're thinking of cannibalism, Sophia."

"Hell no. But that woman looks like she knows her way around here, so I say we get her to cough up some chow."

"Y'know, the way you said it makes it sound kinda disgusting."

Silently, Taylor moved rightwards while Sophia went into shadow mode and trudged silently forward to the kneeling form of the woman. Sophia was three feet behind her when Taylor burst out of the bushes and brandished her rifle.

"Don't move," Taylor said while the local dropped her sickle and shot her hands up. Sophia snorted in disgust and reformed into her physical shape, before she began to rummage through the basket for anything that looks remotely edible.

"Oh hi," the local spoke with a nervous laugh. "Never saw ye girls before. Y'all Rowen's new recruits?"

"Rowen?" Taylor said as she poked the nozzle of her rifle into the woman's cheeks. "Never heard of him."

"Y'all serious? Thin, creepy man with long greasy hair. Controls the supply of dragonium that passes by here from the old Enderant Union to what's left of the Velda Dynasty this here parts?"

"Like she said, never heard of him," Sophia said as she chewed on some berries she got from the basket, before she noticed Taylor's annoyed look.

"What? I was hungry, and I don't think Miss Hillbilly here's going to pick poison berries for her picnic basket."

"So, uh...you girls gon' shoot me or somethin' ? Or maybe you girls swing that way and want to have some fun? I'll do it if you promise not to kill me and dump my corpse here."

"Firstly, eww," Taylor said. "Secondly, if this Rowen has people who regularly does shit like this, then I'm glad we killed a bunch of them on our way here."

"Ya did? Great!" The brunette's face brightened at the news. "So where you girls from anyway? You don't sound local."

Taylor and Sophia exchanged looks, before Taylor spoke out.

"We're Norma. Or at least, I am."

The woman blanched, as all traces of joy retreated from her face.

"Y'all gonna shoot me, aren't you?"

"No," Taylor said firmly. "Just get us some food, water and preferably," Taylor shuddered as she smelled the sour scent of her sweat, "a means of cleaning up. In return, we will provide you with food and medicine once we reach Annam settlement."

The woman's face lit up at the offer.

"You serious? Sure I'll provide you with what you want!"

Taylor nodded, and cautiously extended one hand out to shake while Sophia kept her weapon trained on the local woman.

"Names' are."

"Akiho!"

Akiho shook Taylor's hand, and gave a wide smile with reveal a few missing teeth. Taylor tried to avert her gaze from the stringy hair that once seen better days, while she returned the smile and removed her face covering helmet. As the Norma brushed her sweaty blonde hair, she noticed Akiho shiver and fall flat onto the ground.

"Akiho? What's wrong?" Taylor gently pulled up the older woman, and brushed the wet grass from her worn and patched pants. "You're trembling. Talk to me."

Akiho stared intently at Taylor's face, and the Norma felt Akiho's gaze focused on her eyes before the brunette sighed with evident relief."

"You're not her, your eyes are different. Sorry Taylor, you remind me of a ghost from my past."

"No offense taken, Akiho," Taylor said. " You were born here?"

"No," Akiho spoke in a shaken tone even as she forced a smile on her face. " I was from the Misurugi Empire."


	10. Interlude 2- Light of Mana

**Dancing Dragonflies-Redux**

 **Interlude 2- The Light of Mana.**

 **/x/**

Out in the middle of the Coloradan Plateau, bomb can go off and no one would notice. Which fits the people gathered just fine, as they buzzed about the tent and adjusted their equipment while shielding it from the dust, wind and harsh sun. Seven large nets were hung between thirty feet long steel poles that were rammed into the earth, while several fire engines stood ready with their foam hoses deployed. Eighteen wheelers idled behind the tents, their engines on while movers dressed in white overalls and green overalls rushed more equipment from them. An elevated platform towered above the site, a blonde woman with shoulder long hair and a ponytail strode paced endlessly on it. Her white shirt, wet with sweat clung to her while her sunglasses hid much of her face. The blonde checked her wrist watch once again, and grumbled in frustration as she watched the skies above.

Then the steel blue sky shimmered, as a wall of light fifty feet across appeared.

"To your positions!" The woman on the platform yelled. "Full doses now!"

As one, the blonde and her staff pulled out injectors filled with a clear, glowing green liquid and injected them into their arms. Several hissed, as an aura of light engulfed them. The light wall in the sky flickered, then shattered as a black and purple Hunter paramail in its robotic Destroyer mode fell towards the earth. The white clad workers stretched out their hands, and the nets shimmered with the clear, green light that covered the casters.

"To your positions! Teams One to Six are to slow down the descent of the Hunter at all costs! Relay your readings of the impact to the teams behind you!"

Screens flashed in front of the teams reinforcing the net as they anticipated the falling machine. The Hunter up righted itself right before it hit the ground, and left behind a trail of smoke and sparks as it barrelled straight for the nets.

The Hunter ploughed into the first net, and the steel poles teared off the ground while the glowing nets burnt up instantly when steel met net. The workers who lifted their hands to reinforce the mana nets collapsed while strings of numbers rolled down the screens of the team at the next net. Then the paramail went into the net again, and the poles lasted about three seconds longer before momentum shattered them and broke the minds of the Manaists minding the formation.

Then the third. Then the fourth.

The blonde woman jumped from the platform and glided downwards gracefully as the light carried her through the air. She shone brightly, and for that moment, her light engulfed everything else when she raised her arms towards the fifth net.

"Light of Mana!"

The net became a wall, and the Hunter crashed into it only for the wall to stretch backwards while the earth beneath it rumbled. A pillar of dust and smoke arose from the clash, till the team guarding the sixth net rushed forward to raise the earth behind the fifth net into a ramp that allowed the rolling soil and sand to flow off like a waterfall.

Then the noise stopped and the dust cleared. The blonde woman lowered her hands and pushed away attempts to hold her as she knelt in the dusty ground, thoroughly spent from the exertion. The sunglasses slipped off, revealing a pair of clear, blue eyes that watched as the rescue team sprayed the fallen paramail with foam to cool it down.

"Sylvia," a synthesized voice spoke behind her as the blonde woman found herself helped to her feet by a pair of glass covered hands. Sylvia turned around, and came face to face with a head that had no features bar a round, egg like sphere and holes where the mouth and nose were.

"Doctor Gramme," Sylvia said with a nod as thanks for his help. "As you can see, isolating several mana reactors, then attaching them via the neural link of the pilot to improve the performance of the paramail has…produced some rather _unstable_ results."

"Oh that?" Gramme said, "Quite expected really. I must applaud Ms Rose for her excellent reflexes, endurance, skill and general superiority as a specimen though. I had anticipated for the pilot to perish during this trial run."

The sky darkened, as swarms of locusts covered in the Light of Mana surrounded the glass-covered Tinker, nine foot tall frame. The swarm buzzed around and was almost converged on the separated parts of the villain before another mana forcefield intercepted them.

"Elena, I know you can hear me," Sylvia said, as cold fury threatened to boil over into her voice. "Come out, now!"

A young woman, tall and lanky with long, wavy black hair approached from one of the trucks. Her white overalls were stained with dust and soot from moving the equipment, while the mana enhanced insects swarmed around her protectively.

"Lady Sylvia!" Elena protested. "This man nearly killed my mother!"

"Your mother is alive, this man is needed for our grand project and most importantly, Annette needs her daughter. Now go! Retrieve your mother from her machine."

"But Mannequin-"

"Will be dealt with by me," Sylvia intoned. "Now go!"

Elena clenched her fist and glared at the villain, but spun on her heels and left. Gramme watched as the young teenager directed the enhanced arthropods to enter the air vents before they burst out of the cockpit in a wave of lighted insects.

Then the Light of Mana that protected him _squeezed_ , and he felt his life support system crack as the light began to undo his equipment at the sub-atomic level.

"Let that be a warning, Dr Gramme," Sylvia said darkly. "Our grand mission of bringing the Light to the world has many ways open for us to pursue. Though your knowledge is essential for the Mass Driver project, do not assume I cannot pursue other means."

"You're overreacting, Sylvia. Surely the woman who convinced me of the understanding we can achieve with the Light of Mana can see beyond mere nepotism."

Gramme's right arm shattered as the light pressed down, before it was subsumed and transformed. Despite lacking a face, the egg-shaped head of the Tinker looked almost disappointed.

"I also do not appreciate insubordination that threatens one of my greatest assets in our struggle, cape," Sylvia sneered. "Remember that please, so that we have a better understanding."

A phone rang, and Sylvia dismissed both her light and Gramme with a simple wave of her hand. The blonde former princess watched as the Tinker slinked away towards the trucks, before she answered her phone.

"Brother Jacob," Sylvia said. "What do you have for me?"

"Lady Sylvia," a smooth, warm voice spoke over the line. Sylvia could envision the tall, lanky man with dark hair and a well-kept goatee bowing deeply to her.

"I've spoken to Abbess Superior Misty about this, but you as de facto leader of the Light of Mana should also be informed of our latest developments. This is regarding your other project that isn't linked to bringing the Light and Understanding to the world."

Sylvia gripped her phone, as she waited with bated breath for the news.

"Tusked Angel is active in North America again."


End file.
